“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 age, you have to move more (than
you may feel like)! Life equals motion. Motion equals life. Researchers are really putting out
some amazing information on this fact that will motivate
us all (and our cherished family members!) to exercise so that we can all age
gracefully. Pflugerville Wellness Center and our Pflugerville 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
frightening than moving and be even a bit
soothing. Pflugerville 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 found that inpatient
mobility was low despite their individual capabilities and desires to get up and move around. (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 they
were in the hospital using an individualized
multicomponent exercise program that integrated 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 preserving
functional abilities for those who want to age healthily.
They further stressed that exercise and physical activity are good
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
Pflugerville Wellness 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 lot
of other adverse health issues, both cognitive
and physical. The hope we all have is that frailty is alterable.
Researchers have studied this issue by appraising
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 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% improved
their frailty rating. Specifically, muscle power went up
by 47%, muscle strength rose 34%, and aerobic capacity by
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 raise
fatigue and emotional distress. Moving and physical activity has been reported
to fight those feelings in older women as well as increase
life expectancy and reduce some negative effects of a
sedentary lifestyle. (6) Pflugerville Wellness Center thinks you will
agree that these are beneficial!
CONTACT Pflugerville Wellness Center
Listen to this PODCAST
with Dr. Tom Menendez on The
Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he
describes the effectiveness of the gentle
protocols of The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management in treating the older
patient.
Make your Pflugerville chiropractic
appointment soon. You’re alive. What a wonderful fact, one to be thankful for by moving!