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 have to move. As you age, you have to move more (than you may want)! Life is motion. Motion is life. Researchers are really putting out some amazing information on this fact that will motivate us all (and our cherished family members!) to exercise so that we can all grow old and grow old(er) gracefully. Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka and our Sitka 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 scary than moving and be even a bit comforting. Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka 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 found that inpatient mobility was negligible despite their individual capacities to move and desires to move. (1) It’s so important 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 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 stressed 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 at bay, and Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka encourages it!
FRAILTY AND MOBILITY
Those of us over 65 years old are said to be more susceptible to frailty, amplifying our risk of lot of other undesirable health issues, both cognitive and physical. The desire we all have is that frailty is reversible. Researchers have studied this issue by examining published studies on this topic of frailty reversal. Fortunately, 56.7% of the papers suggested 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 said that frail and even “pre” frail older patients demonstrated better physical performance and function following a brief (6 week) facility-based exercise routine that involved a walking-based high intensity interval training. 64% improved their frailty rating. Specifically, muscle power improved 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 tend to decrease energy levels and increase fatigue and emotional distress. Moving and physical activity has been reported to combat those feelings in older women as well as extend life expectancy and lower some negative effects of a sedentary lifestyle. (6) Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka thinks you will concur that these are positive things!
CONTACT Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Tom Menendez on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he shares the effective gentle protocols of The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management in treating the elderly.
Schedule your Sitka chiropractic appointment soon. You’re alive. What a wonderful fact! Celebrate that with some movement.
