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 realize! No matter your age, you have to move. As you get older, you have to move more (than you may feel like)! Life equals motion. Motion equals life. Researchers are really delivering some amazing information on this fact that will inspire us all (and our loved ones!) to exercise so that we can all age gracefully. Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries and our Manchester 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 calming. Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries will give you that! If you’ve 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 low despite their individual capabilities and desires to move. (1) It’s vital 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 a personalized multicomponent exercise program that incorporated power training in as little as 3 days! (2) In a review of the benefits of exercise 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 good for the prevention 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 Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries encourages that!
FRAILTY AND MOBILITY
Those of us over 65 years old are said to be more prone to frailty, increasing 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 analyzed this issue by examining published studies on this topic of frailty reversal. Fortunately, 56.7% of the papers proposed that it is reversible (getting 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 demonstrated better physical performance and function following a brief (6 week) facility-based exercise program that included a walking-based high intensity interval training. 64% upped their frailty rating. Specifically, muscle power went up by 47%, muscle strength rose 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 are more apt to decrease energy levels and stated fatigue and emotional distress. Moving and physical activity has been described to contend with those feelings in older women as well as extend life expectancy and cut back on some negative effects of a sedentary lifestyle. (6) Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries thinks you will concur that these are positive things!
CONTACT Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Tom Menendez on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he details the effectiveness of the gentle protocols of The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management in treating the elderly.
Schedule your Manchester chiropractic appointment now. You’re alive. What a wonderful fact, one to be thankful for by moving!
