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 grow older, you have to move more (than you may feel like)! Life is motion. Motion is life. Researchers are really sharing some great information on this fact that will motivate us all (and our cherished family members!) to keep active so that we can all age gracefully. Executive Chiropractic of Iowa and our West Des Moines 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 soothing. Executive Chiropractic of Iowa will give you that! If you have 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 uncovered information 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 to get them better! Beneficially, acutely hospitalized older patients improved their muscle strength and power while hospitalized following an individualized 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 emphasized the importance of maintaining functional abilities for those who want to grow old gracefully. They further stressed 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 Executive Chiropractic of Iowa encourages it!
FRAILTY AND MOBILITY
Those of us over 65 years old are said to be more prone to frailty, amplifying our risk of several undesirable health issues, both cognitive and physical. The hope we all have is that frailty is reversible. Researchers have studied this issue by going over published studies on this topic of frailty reversal. Luckily, 56.7% of the papers proposed 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 shared that frail and even “pre” frail older patients demonstrated better physical performance and function after 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 went up 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 decrease energy levels and raise fatigue and emotional distress. Moving and physical activity has been described to fight those feelings in older women as well as extend life expectancy and reduce some negative effects of a sedentary lifestyle. (6) Executive Chiropractic of Iowa thinks you’ll concur that these are positive things!
CONTACT Executive Chiropractic of Iowa
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Tom Menendez on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he describes the effective gentle protocols of The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management in treating the elderly.
Schedule your West Des Moines chiropractic appointment soon. You’re alive. What a wonderful fact! Celebrate that with some movement.
