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 remember! No matter your age, you really must move. As you age, you have to move more (than you may desire)! Life equals motion. Motion equals life. Researchers are really putting out some amazing information on this topic that will inspire us all (and our cherished family members!) to exercise so that we can all grow old and grow old(er) gracefully. Chiropractic Solutions and our San Jose 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 frightening than moving and be even a bit comforting. Chiropractic Solutions will give you that! When hospitalized, there’s lots of bed rest, maybe even a bit too much for a patient’s 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 so important to keep acute patients - and those with new bouts of back pain and/or neck pain, too - moving so that they can heal! Beneficially, acutely hospitalized older patients enhanced their muscle strength and power while they were in the hospital using a personalized multicomponent exercise program that integrated 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 preserving functional abilities for those who want to age healthily. They further stressed that exercise and physical activity are effective to prevent of falls, hospital stays, enriched 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 at bay, and Chiropractic Solutions encourages it!
FRAILTY AND MOBILITY
Those of us over 65 years old are said to be more at risk to frailty, amplifying our risk of several adverse health issues, both cognitive and physical. The hope we all have is that frailty is reversible. Researchers have analyzed this issue by reviewing published studies on this topic of frailty reversal. Luckily, 56.7% of the papers proposed that it is reversible (getting a person who is frail/severely frail to a state of being just pre-frail or just mildly frail). (4) Those are promising outcomes! One study shared that frail and even “pre” frail older patients showed better physical performance and function after a brief (6 week) facility-based exercise routine that involved a walking-based high intensity interval training. 64% upped their frailty rating. Particularly, muscle power improved by 47%, muscle strength by 34%, and aerobic capacity rose 19%. (5) And other additional benefits with physical activity in general: energy and a better emotional state! Frailty and aging tend to lower energy levels and raise fatigue and emotional distress. Moving and physical activity has been described to fight those feelings in older women as well as increase life expectancy and lower some negative effects of a sedentary lifestyle. (6) Chiropractic Solutions thinks you will concur that these are positive things!
CONTACT Chiropractic Solutions
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Tom Menendez on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he describes the effective gentle protocols of The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management in treating the elderly.
Schedule your San Jose chiropractic appointment today. You’re alive. What a wonderful fact, one to be thankful for by moving!
