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 grow older, you have to move more (than you may desire)! Life equals motion. Motion equals life. Researchers are really sharing some great information on this topic that will inspire us all (and our loved ones!) to move so that we can all grow old and grow old(er) gracefully. Aaron Chiropractic Clinic and our Fort Wayne 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 isn’t always best! It may be less frightening than moving and be even a bit soothing. Aaron Chiropractic Clinic will give you that! If you have 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 found that inpatient mobility was negligible despite their individual capacities to move and desires to get up and move around. (1) It’s 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 using an individualized multicomponent exercise program that integrated power training in just 3 days! (2) In a review of the good that exercise offers for frail older adults, researchers stressed the importance of preserving functional abilities for those who want to grow old gracefully. They further put emphasis on the fact that exercise and physical activity are effective 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 Aaron Chiropractic Clinic encourages it!
FRAILTY AND MOBILITY
Those of us over 65 years old are said to be more prone to frailty, amplifying our risk of several undesirable health issues, both cognitive and physical. The desire we all have is that frailty is reversible. Researchers have studied this issue by going over published studies on this topic of frailty reversal. Luckily, 56.7% of the papers proposed that it is reversible (returning a person who is frail/severely frail to a state of being just pre-frail or just mildly frail). (4) Those are hopeful outcomes! One study said that frail and even “pre” frail older patients demonstrated better physical performance and function after a brief (6 week) facility-based exercise routine that involved a walking-based high intensity interval training. 64% improved their frailty rating. Particularly, muscle power went up by 47%, muscle strength by 34%, and aerobic capacity by 19%. (5) And other bonuses with physical activity in general: energy and a better emotional state! Frailty and aging are more apt to lower energy levels and stated fatigue and emotional distress. Moving and physical activity has been reported to contend with those feelings in older women as well as extend life expectancy and reduce some negative effects of a sedentary lifestyle. (6) Aaron Chiropractic Clinic thinks you will concur that these are positive things!
CONTACT Aaron Chiropractic Clinic
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Tom Menendez on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he details the effective gentle protocols of The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management in treating the elderly.
Schedule your Fort Wayne chiropractic appointment now. You’re alive. What a wonderful thing, one to be thankful for by moving!
