“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 want)! 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 move so that we can all grow old and grow old(er)
gracefully. New Roads Chiropractic Center and our New Roads 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
comforting. New Roads Chiropractic Center 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
is 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 just 3 days! (2) In a review of the good that exercise offers for frail older adults,
researchers stressed 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 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
New Roads Chiropractic Center encourages it!
FRAILTY AND MOBILITY
Those of us over 65 years old are said to be more susceptible to frailty, amplifying our risk of several adverse health issues, both cognitive
and physical. The hope we all have is that frailty is alterable.
Researchers have studied this issue by examining
published studies on this topic of frailty reversal. Fortunately,
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 showed better physical performance and function following
a short (6 week) facility-based exercise program that
included a walking-based high intensity interval training. 64% improved
their frailty rating. Specifically, muscle power improved
by 47%, muscle strength by 34%, and aerobic capacity rose
19%. (5) And other additional benefits 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) New Roads Chiropractic Center thinks you will
agree that these are positive things!
CONTACT New Roads Chiropractic Center
Listen to this PODCAST
with Dr. Tom Menendez on The
Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he
details the effective gentle
protocols of The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management in treating the older
patient.
Make your New Roads chiropractic
appointment now. You’re alive. What a wonderful fact, one to be thankful for by moving!