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 grow older, you have to move more (than you may feel like)! Life equals motion. Motion equals life. Researchers are really delivering some great 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. Manahawkin Chiropractic Center and our Manahawkin 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. Manahawkin Chiropractic Center 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 found that inpatient mobility was low despite their individual capacities to move and desires to get up and move around. (1) It is 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 improved 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 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 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 at bay, and Manahawkin Chiropractic Center encourages that!
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 hope we all have is that frailty is reversible. Researchers have analyzed this issue by going over published studies on this topic of frailty reversal. Fortunately, 56.7% of the papers suggested 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 hopeful outcomes! One study said that frail and even “pre” frail older patients showed better physical performance and function following a brief (6 week) facility-based exercise routine that included a walking-based high intensity interval training. 64% bettered their frailty rating. Particularly, muscle power improved by 47%, muscle strength rose 34%, and aerobic capacity by 19%. (5) And other advantages with physical activity in general: energy and a better emotional state! Frailty and aging are more apt to decrease energy levels and increase fatigue and emotional distress. Moving and physical activity has been described to contend with those feelings in older women as well as increase life expectancy and cut back on some negative effects of a sedentary lifestyle. (6) Manahawkin Chiropractic Center thinks you’ll agree that these are beneficial!
CONTACT Manahawkin Chiropractic Center
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 Manahawkin chiropractic appointment now. You’re alive. What a wonderful fact, one to be thankful for by moving!
