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 reminder! No matter your age, you really must move. As you grow older, you have to move more (than you may want)! Life is motion. Motion is life. Researchers are really putting out some great information on this fact that will inspire us all (and our loved ones!) to move so that we can all grow old and grow old(er) gracefully. Satterwhite Chiropractic and our Oxford 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 frightening than moving and be even a bit soothing. Satterwhite Chiropractic 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 get up and move around. (1) It is 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 they were in the hospital following an individualized 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 maintaining functional abilities for those who want to grow old gracefully. They further underscored the fact that exercise and physical activity are valuable to prevent 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 away, and Satterwhite Chiropractic 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 adverse health issues, both cognitive and physical. The hope we all have is that frailty is alterable. Researchers have studied this issue by going over published studies on this topic of frailty reversal. Fortunately, 56.7% of the papers proposed that it is reversible (getting a person who is frail/severely frail to a state of being ‘pre-frail’ or just mildly so). (4) Those are hopeful 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 involved a walking-based high intensity interval training. 64% upped their frailty rating. Particularly, muscle power improved by 47%, muscle strength by 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 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) Satterwhite Chiropractic thinks you’ll agree that these are positive things!
CONTACT Satterwhite Chiropractic
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Tom Menendez on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he details the effectiveness of the gentle protocols of The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management in treating the elderly.
Make your Oxford chiropractic appointment soon. You’re alive. What a wonderful fact, one to be thankful for by moving!
