Posture Exercise as an Anti-Aging Tool
Compare the shoes of a younger woman to those of an older woman and you will notice differences in heel height, width and padding. The older woman is less concerned with style and more with safety and comfort. The changes are slow as she first traded in her fashionable heels for sneakers to chase after those little babies. Then later, she loved her loafers for carpooling, work and errands and finally, a few decades later, discovers Rockports. As her feet change and her body changes, she instinctively moves toward a cushioned, well-supported footbed in her shoe to maximize comfort and stability. She is more concerned with falling than ever before and the sight of those old heels, now on a young girl elicits a disapproving grimace.
In fact, according to the Institute for Aging Research, falls are a leading cause of death and disability in older adults. Affected are a full one third of seniors who live in community dwellings and HALF of people living in nursing homes. Injuries due to falls cost approximately 12.5 BILLION to 17.5 BILLION DOLLARS per year for medical care, extended treatment facilities and value to lost productivity. The need to find ways to diminish the incidence of falls is obvious in light of these statistics. There are many reasons for falls including a hip fracture with standing, dizziness from any number of causes, and insufficient nerve conduction and thus weakness of the muscles around the spine, hip and ankle. Fortunately, there is a simple solution to the problems with balance from a coordination standpoint. Chiropractic adjustments and posture exercises are two simple and cost effective modalities to reduce the chance of falling. Posture exercises are a series of exercises performed both against a wall and with the use of an exercise ball. The purpose is to strengthen the small, deep muscles of the spine that travel between two and six vertebrae. Increasing the strength and improving the coordination and side to side balance of these muscles will allow an individual to correct for sudden and unexpected weight shifts or changes in footing. Training the body to balance the visual cues with the vestibular system (in the ears), with the nerves that control the muscles can be done with little equipment some training by a Doctor of Chiropractic. Long-term supervision is not necessary, though each case is unique and the patient, along with the care-giving team, should make those decisions. Many people seem to benefit from refresher sessions no matter what their age.
We are all balanced enough to keep from falling down most of the time, even those with the most horrendous posture. The ability to balance on one leg for more than 30 seconds has been shown to be a factor in how likely it is that you are going to fall. Postural control is our ability compensate for unexpected shifts in weight bearing and footing. We lose the ability to adapt to a sudden change of either of these two factors as we get older. A one-legged balance exercise with eyes open and the more advanced version with eyes closed is an excellent tool for anyone to begin balance training. Regardless of past medical history, one can begin the eyes-open balance exercise to train the muscles and nerves of our ankle, strengthen the standing foot and gently exercise deep muscles close to the spine by this simple exercise.
The other aspect is the balance of the neuromusculoskeletal system and how well it can keep the skeleton in a balanced motor pattern. The head should be straight and level and aligned with the shoulders. The shoulders should be even and aligned with the hips which are, in turn, over the knees that are over the ankles and feet. When the skeleton is level to the ground and square to the front, each joint has a proportional amount of stress in accordance with its anatomy. Knowing that osteoporosis and arthritis are not inherited we can see that this skeleton will age slower than a skeleton that is tilted to one side, rotated, hunched forward and with partially restricted joints. As this second person walks, the areas of shortened and overpowering muscles will draw movement toward the restriction and will usually have a compensating opposite side that is elongated, weak and unstable. This region of the body will be balanced by a region above or below that has shortness, restriction and overpowering muscles on the opposite side and weakness and instability on the same side to keep the bodyweight balanced over a center of gravity and keep the person upright and continually wearing away every joint as if it were an old car, years after an accident from which it was never repaired. Posture exercise trains muscles and joints to balance movement equally and simultaneously. Short tight muscles are stretched, weak long muscles are strengthened and joints regain full range of motion as the body moves through simple exercises on a frequent basis.
When an older woman sees the youth of today wearing unpractical and uncomfortable shoes, she has the mixed emotions of the instant pain those same shoes would cause her, and knowing how she would fall after 2 steps. She also misses her body and youth that used to wear those shoes or other impractical fashions of her day. More importantly, looking forward, she is getting chiropractic adjustments and exercising her way to optimal function and mobility to meet the demands of her new favorite pastimes such as golf, tennis and bridge. Simple wall and ball exercises with empower our new friend with a new strength and level of function she as not had in many decades. As the core strength of the torso improves, our friend will see she is able to increase the level of function she has on every level. Just as there is no end to the improvement and independence she could feel as a result of improved strength and balance, there may be no end to how far she will go for a pair of Manolo Blahniks.
Jill Melsha
