As we age, staying active keeps us healthy,  our lives are lengthened and we feel great! Older individuals are discovering that exercise, sports and being physically fit does not mean having to do hardcore workouts and hard-to-maintain exercise/s and schedules.

Many of these individuals get their exercise from active pastimes like biking, Crossfit, and tennis. Others participate in less active recreational activities like walking, gardening or golf. Regardless of which activity they get into, they are all getting relaxation and fun while securing a healthy future.

 

 

Exercise helps us feel better because it improves our health.

Spending just a little time each day doing some type of physical activity, will bring these benefits:

• Longer
• Healthier life
• Stronger bones
• Reduced joint
• Reduced muscle pain
• Improved mobility
• Improved balance
• Lower risk of falls
• Lower risk of serious injuries e.g. hip fractures
• Slower loss of muscle mass

Fortunately, individuals are living longer but their quality of life means staying healthy and active to remain independent.

Staying active will lower the risk of many common diseases, relieve arthritis pain and help you recover faster when illness hits.

 

Activity and Safety

Keeping active means that it’s also important to be safe during these activities/exercises. With more older individuals participating in physical activities, there is an equal increase in sports-related injuries. This is true for bicyclists, skiers, weight lifters and those that use exercise machines.

A recent study by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC),  showed an estimated 53,000 people ages 65 and up were treated in U.S. emergency rooms for sports, physical activity-related injuries. Additional injuries were treated in doctor’s clinics/offices.

 

The increase comes from more older individuals engaging in active sports. However, most of these injuries were not severe but more importantly, they could’ve been prevented. An example was cyclists treated in emergency rooms for head injuries were not wearing helmets. Wearing a helmet reduces the risk of serious head injury up to 85 percent. Regular exercise along with doing it safely means you can enjoy yourself a lot more.

Activity log

Medium physical activity for 30 minutes a day is beneficial for everyone but especially those with chronic bone/joint conditions.

The 30 minutes of activity can be broken up into shorter periods of different activities, like 15 minutes of gardening and 15 minutes of stretching exercises. This can help not getting bored with a routine by mixing it up.

Activity log to keep track of the time you spend on each.

 

Injury Prevention Tips

When exercise/participating in an activity, doctors recommend following these tips:

• Wear the proper safety gear for whichever activity/sport you choose.
• Wear the right shoes for each sport/activity.
• Warm-up before engaging in physical activity. This could be moderate walking at your normal pace with an emphasis on arm movements.
• Exercise at least 30 minutes a day. Break the activities into shorter periods of 10 or 15 minutes throughout the day.
• Follow the 10 percent rule, which means never increasing the program like walking/running distance or weight-lifting more than 10 percent a week.
• Try not to do the same routine two days in a row.
• Mix it up so as not to sprain/strain the same muscles and allow the other muscles to get a workout. So walk, swim, tennis or lift weights, as this keeps the exercise more interesting.
• Read instructions carefully when working with exercise equipment, and if needed, ask a qualified professional to help you.
• Check exercise equipment making sure it’s in proper working order.
• If weight training interests you but you have never done it, make sure to get professional consultation before starting.
• Stop exercising if there is severe pain or swelling and get checked by your doctor.

There are plenty of ways to enhance our lives as we age, and staying fit and active along with the proper diet are a few of the most important.

Our clinical focus and personal goals are to help your body heal itself naturally quickly and effectively.  At times, it may seem like a long path; nevertheless, with our commitment to you, it’s sure to be an exciting journey. The commitment to you in health is to, never lose our deep connection to each one of our patients on this journey.

When your body is truly healthy, you will arrive at your optimal fitness level proper physiological fitness state.  We want to help you live a new and improved lifestyle. Over the last two decades, while researching and testing methods with thousands of patients, we have learned what works effectively at decreasing pain while increasing human vitality.

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El Paso, TX Chiropractor Lower Back Pain Treatment

 

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NCBI Resources

Aerobic exercise increases the blood flow to the body’s tissues, and people with high levels of cardiovascular fitness generally do better dealing with spinal problems. However, before anyone with a spine condition or any medical condition for that matter, starts a wellness and fitness program, they should check with their primary caregiver, to clear the individual as fit to exercise.