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 feel like)! Life is motion. Motion is 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 grow old and grow old(er) gracefully. Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc 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 is not always best! It may be less scary than moving and be even a bit calming. Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc 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 low despite their individual capabilities 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 hospitalized following an individualized multicomponent exercise program that integrated power training in as little as 3 days! (2) In a review of the benefits of exercise for frail older adults, researchers stressed the value of preserving functional abilities for those who want to grow old gracefully. They further emphasized 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 Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc encourages it!
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 adverse health issues, both cognitive and physical. The hope we all have is that frailty is alterable. Researchers have studied this issue by appraising 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 ‘pre-frail’ or just mildly so). (4) Those are positive 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 routine that included a walking-based high intensity interval training. 64% upped their frailty rating. Specifically, muscle power improved by 47%, muscle strength by 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 lower 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 increase life expectancy and cut back on some negative effects of a sedentary lifestyle. (6) Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc thinks you will concur that these are positive things!
CONTACT Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc
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.
Make your Fort Wayne chiropractic appointment soon. You’re alive. What a wonderful fact! Celebrate that with some movement.
