“Life is about movement - everything that is alive moves.”
(1)
What a great thing to realize!
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 sharing
some amazing information on this fact that will inspire
us all (and our loved ones!) to move so that we can all age
gracefully. Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation and our Carrolltown 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
soothing. Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation 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 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 using an individualized
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 emphasized the importance of maintaining
functional abilities for those who want to age healthily.
They further put emphasis on the
fact that exercise and physical activity are valuable
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
Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation 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 desire we all have is that frailty is alterable.
Researchers have studied this issue by reviewing
published studies on this topic of frailty reversal. Luckily,
56.7% of the papers proposed that it is reversible (returning
a person who is frail/severely frail to a state of being ‘pre-frail’ or just
mildly so). (4) Those are promising
outcomes! One study said 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. Particularly, muscle power improved
by 47%, muscle strength rose 34%, and aerobic capacity rose
19%. (5) And other bonuses with physical
activity in general: energy and a better emotional state! Frailty and aging are
more apt to decrease energy levels and increase
fatigue and emotional distress. Moving and physical activity has been reported
to combat those feelings in older women as well as extend
life expectancy and lower some negative effects of a
sedentary lifestyle. (6) Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation thinks you will
concur that these are positive things!
CONTACT Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation
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.
Schedule your Carrolltown chiropractic
appointment soon. You’re alive. What a wonderful fact, one to be thankful for by moving!