Keep Moving As You Age So That You Can Grow Older Gracefully!
“Life is about movement - everything that is alive moves.” (1)
What a great thing to realize! No matter your age, you have to move. As you get older, you have to move more (than you may desire)! Life equals motion. Motion equals life. Researchers are really sharing some amazing information on this topic that will motivate us all (and our loved ones!) to exercise so that we can all grow old and grow old(er) gracefully. Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation and our Tonawanda chiropractic patients will all grow old better working together, exercising, moving, and meeting at the office for gentle Cox® treatment!
BED REST AND MOBILITY
Bed rest is not always best! It may be less scary than moving and be even a bit comforting. Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation will give you that! If you’ve ever been hospitalized, you know there is a lot of bed rest, maybe even too much for your liking! A study of patients in an acute care hospital ward uncovered information that inpatient mobility was low despite their individual capacities to move and desires to move. (1) It is vital to keep acute patients - and those with new bouts of back pain and/or neck pain, too - moving to get them better! Beneficially, acutely hospitalized older patients enhanced their muscle strength and power while they were in the hospital following a personalized multicomponent exercise program that incorporated power training in as little as 3 days! (2) In a review of the benefits of exercise for frail older adults, researchers emphasized the importance of maintaining functional abilities for those who want to age healthily. They further underscored the fact that exercise and physical activity are valuable to prevent of falls, hospital stays, improved cognition, etc. Exercises from power training (yes – power training for older folks!) to resistance training, balance exercises, aerobic training, walking, etc. (3) Mobility is part of keeping frailty away, and Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation encourages it!
FRAILTY AND MOBILITY
Those of us over 65 years old are said to be more susceptible to frailty, increasing our risk of lot of other adverse health issues, both cognitive and physical. The desire we all have is that frailty is alterable. Researchers have studied this issue by appraising published studies on this topic of frailty reversal. Fortunately, 56.7% of the papers proposed that it is reversible (getting a person who is frail/severely frail to a state of being ‘pre-frail’ or just mildly so). (4) Those are promising outcomes! One study said that frail and even “pre” frail older patients demonstrated better physical performance and function after a short (6 week) facility-based exercise program that involved a walking-based high intensity interval training. 64% upped their frailty rating. Particularly, muscle power went up by 47%, muscle strength by 34%, and aerobic capacity by 19%. (5) And other additional benefits with physical activity in general: energy and a better emotional state! Frailty and aging are more apt to lower energy levels and increase fatigue and emotional distress. Moving and physical activity has been described to combat those feelings in older women as well as extend life expectancy and cut back on some negative effects of a sedentary lifestyle. (6) Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation thinks you will concur that these are beneficial!
CONTACT Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Tom Menendez on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he shares the effectiveness of the gentle protocols of The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management in treating the older patient.
Schedule your Tonawanda chiropractic appointment soon. You’re alive. What a wonderful thing! Celebrate that with some movement.
