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 really must move. As you grow older, you have to move more (than you may desire)! Life equals motion. Motion equals life. Researchers are really delivering some great information on this fact that will inspire us all (and our cherished family members!) to exercise so that we can all age gracefully. Rosenberg Wellness Center and our New York City 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. Rosenberg Wellness Center will give you that! If you have ever been hospitalized, you know there’s 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 capacities to move and desires to move. (1) It’s so important 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 following an individualized multicomponent exercise program that incorporated power training in just 3 days! (2) In a review of the benefits of exercise for frail older adults, researchers emphasized the value of maintaining functional abilities for those who want to grow old gracefully. They further stressed 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 Rosenberg Wellness Center encourages that!
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 desire we all have is that frailty is reversible. Researchers have analyzed this issue by reviewing 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 brief (6 week) facility-based exercise program that involved 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 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 reduce some negative effects of a sedentary lifestyle. (6) Rosenberg Wellness Center thinks you will agree that these are positive things!
CONTACT Rosenberg Wellness Center
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Tom Menendez on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he shares the effective gentle protocols of The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management in treating the elderly.
Make your New York City chiropractic appointment now. You’re alive. What a wonderful thing, one to be thankful for by moving!
