“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
is motion. Motion is life. Researchers are really putting out
some amazing information on this topic that will inspire
us all (and our loved ones!) to exercise so that we can all age
gracefully. Apple Country Chiropractic and our Williamson 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
calming. Apple Country Chiropractic 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 negligible despite their individual capabilities and desires to move. (1) It
is 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 integrated power
training in just 3 days! (2) In a review of the benefits
of exercise for frail older adults,
researchers emphasized the importance of preserving
functional abilities for those who want to age healthily.
They further put emphasis on the
fact that exercise and physical activity are good
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
Apple Country Chiropractic encourages it!
FRAILTY AND MOBILITY
Those of us over 65 years old are said to be more susceptible to frailty, increasing our risk of several undesirable health issues, both cognitive
and physical. The desire we all have is that frailty is alterable.
Researchers have studied this issue by examining
published studies on this topic of frailty reversal. Luckily,
56.7% of the papers suggested that it is reversible (returning
a person who is frail/severely frail to a state of being just pre-frail or just mildly frail). (4) Those are positive
outcomes! One study said that frail and even “pre” frail older
patients showed better physical performance and function after
a short (6 week) facility-based exercise program that
included a walking-based high intensity interval training. 64% bettered
their frailty rating. Specifically, muscle power improved
by 47%, muscle strength by 34%, and aerobic capacity rose
19%. (5) And other advantages 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 described
to combat those feelings in older women as well as extend
life expectancy and reduce some negative effects of a
sedentary lifestyle. (6) Apple Country Chiropractic thinks you’ll
agree that these are beneficial!
CONTACT Apple Country Chiropractic
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 Williamson chiropractic
appointment soon. You’re alive. What a wonderful thing!
Celebrate that with some movement.