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 reminder! No matter your age, you really must move. As you age, you have to move more (than you may desire)! Life is motion. Motion is life. Researchers are really delivering some amazing information on this topic that will motivate us all (and our cherished family members!) to move so that we can all grow old and grow old(er) gracefully. Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation and our Carrolltown 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. Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation will give you that! When hospitalized, there is 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 negligible despite their individual capabilities 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 improved their muscle strength and power while hospitalized using an individualized multicomponent exercise program that incorporated power training in just 3 days! (2) In a review of the good that exercise offers for frail older adults, researchers emphasized the importance of preserving functional abilities for those who want to age healthily. They further underscored the fact that exercise and physical activity are effective for the prevention 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 at bay, and Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation 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 lot of other undesirable 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. Fortunately, 56.7% of the papers proposed that it is reversible (returning a person who is frail/severely frail to a state of being ‘pre-frail’ or just mildly so). (4) Those are hopeful outcomes! One study shared that frail and even “pre” frail older patients showed better physical performance and function following a brief (6 week) facility-based exercise routine that involved a walking-based high intensity interval training. 64% bettered their frailty rating. Specifically, 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 decrease energy levels and raise fatigue and emotional distress. Moving and physical activity has been described to combat those feelings in older women as well as increase life expectancy and reduce some negative effects of a sedentary lifestyle. (6) Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation thinks you will concur that these are beneficial!
CONTACT Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Tom Menendez on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he describes the effectiveness of the gentle protocols of The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management in treating the elderly.
Make your Carrolltown chiropractic appointment soon. You’re alive. What a wonderful thing! Celebrate that with some movement.
