4 Easy Exercises for Seniors

The new year is here! For all of us, this means new energy, opportunities, and resolutions to take with us into 2022. It seems we all had the same thing on our minds: according to a study conducted by Statista, the most common 2022 resolution was ‘to exercise more’. 

Although exercise can aid all ages, it’s especially important for those in their golden years. For seniors, staying active is crucial for aging well in place. Exercise promotes heart health, regulates blood flow, and keeps the body spry in older age. 

For those seniors looking to exercise more in the new year, here are four easy exercises! Do not hesitate to speak with an experienced chiropractor before beginning to find out what the most important thing to do for your body will be. Your home health aid, can assist you with this. 

1. Yoga

For those looking to exercise more in 2022, there is no better place to start than yoga. With an emphasis on poses and breathwork, yoga can help improve blood flow and flexibility. The practice of regular poses is especially helpful in promoting balance in seniors. This balance can bolster your aging loved one in the event of a fall. 

2. Recumbent Bicycling

Seniors in search of lower body exercises can gain a lot from the recumbent bike. A recumbent bicycle is one of the best ways to bolster lower muscles while being gentle on the body. The lower and wider seat allows seniors to work out their legs without straining limbs. 

The recumbent bicycle also provides more accessible usage, as the machine can be more easily operated than an upright bicycle.

3. Water Aerobics

Another great exercise is water aerobics. Swimming in water acts as both an aerobic and anaerobic activity. This is because the act of being in water is a resistance activity: the senior is actively fighting against the push of the water with their muscles. Thus, water aerobics provides two forms of activity for the price of one!

In addition, the lower gravity of water places less pressure on joints and bones. This means those who are living with arthritis and bone diseases are free to exercise without placing undue stress on their joints. 

4. Walking

Sometimes exercise is as simple as a walk in the park! Walking can strengthen bones, lengthen muscles, and promote heart health through aerobic activity. Even better, walking requires no equipment or location. All it requires is the senior and a designated location. Thus, for incorporating exercise in the new year, seniors should look no further than their own backyard!

There are many reasons to visit a physical therapist, and those technicians can treat a wide variety of ailments. However, the most common client is someone that has been injured in an accident or that has extensive, life-altering pain. Since different individuals may respond better to differing therapies, the therapist employs a wide range of techniques to strengthen muscles, increase circulation, or improve range of motion. Here are some of the most frequently used physical therapy techniques to alleviate pain.

Heat Therapy

Cold and heat therapy has long been used on muscle aches and pains, as well as to reduce soft tissue swelling and inflammation. Whether the cold is used to constrict the blood flow or heat is used to increase blood movement, the therapist can use the method best suited to aid in a speedy recovery.

Massage Therapy

The physical therapist is highly trained in manual muscle movement. This can include:

• Mobilization
• Massage
• Manipulation
• Applications

Because of the effectiveness of muscle movement, it is the foundation of most treatment plans.

Electric Therapy

ESTIM is a form of electrical stimulation that applies electricity to a muscle. The resulting muscle contraction can stimulate movement and restore function. The higher the current, the more muscle contraction can be expected. ESTIM is also used in pain management, but only on very low electrical levels.

Light Therapy

Therapists are trained to use lasers on a low wavelength level to aid in healing. The light therapy is still providing new and exciting ways to help the body, but some of the more common uses are:

• Reduce inflammation
• Limit discomfort
• Alleviate muscle fatigue
• Lessen pain

Physical therapists often use laser therapy along with manual manipulation to achieve the best results.

Sound Therapy

One of the most common uses of sound in physical therapy is employing a high-pitched wave to aid in circulation. The sound also provides heat to connective tissues and speeds ligament healing. Ultrasounds are the most common form of sound therapy and have proven beneficial when used with other physical therapy options, as a physical therapist like one from Mid-Atlantic Spinal Rehab & Chiropractic can tell you more about.

Traction Therapy

Traction decompression therapy is used to relieve pressure on the injured back, most specifically the spine. Whether the injury is a result of genetics or an automobile collision, easing the compression can alleviate the pain and allow the suffering individual to strengthen the area. Conditions that traction therapy works on include:

• Pinched nerves
• Compressed discs
• Sciatica
• Degenerative back disease
• Herniated discs

Pain Therapy

If you have pain that hasn’t been resolved, contact a physical therapist today. You deserve to live a life free of pain, and a qualified physical therapist can help you achieve that state using some of the pain-alleviating techniques listed above.

Physical therapy is designed to help patients recover from injuries and surgery or to improve overall health as the body begins to wear down with age. Many people go into their first appointment with many questions. Not only do they worry that the treatment won’t work, but they are concerned that it might hurt. If you are thinking this before your initial examination, you’re not alone. Fortunately, physical therapists have been answering these questions for a long time. Here’s what you need to know.

Physical Therapy and Pain

While physical therapy often helps to reduce or ease pain (if not eliminate it altogether), the treatment should not cause pain. That said, it may cause discomfort as you begin your new exercises. Physical workouts and exercises are always challenging when you first begin, and they may cause soreness as you strengthen your body. If you work muscles and massage tissues that you have not used in a while, soreness is to be expected. Just know that eventually, it will go away.

Benefits of Treatment

Physical therapy comes with many more benefits other than reducing pain. It can help you recover from an injury or decrease the likelihood of an injury. As you age, mobility can become difficult, but physical therapy can loosen joints and muscles so that carrying out regular tasks is no problem. You may be able to participate in more activities after seeing your physical therapist for several months. Treatment can also replace the need for surgery or medication, as a physical therapist like one from Mid-Atlantic Spinal Rehab & Chiropractic can explain.

Timeline of Physical Therapy

The number of appointments you make really depends on your individual needs. Some people only need to see a physical therapist a few times to gather knowledge about what exercises they should be doing at home before they can continue treatment on their own. Others may go to appointments once or twice a week for several months or years until their problems subside. It is all about personal goals and where you want to end up with your physical health.

Finding a Physical Therapist

If you think physical therapy might be good for you, talk to your normal doctor about it. Physicians often have physical therapists in mind for recommendations. You can also seek out a professional without the referral of a doctor. Search for highly rated physical therapists in your area (many work at special clinics) and make an appointment to see what they can do for you.

Does Hair Restoration Last?

There are many questions that patients have for medical professionals depending on what type of treatment is being received. For example, a patient may ask a chiropractor how often one would need to receive treatment. The answer may vary depending on the patient’s current state. The answers also vary with the specific procedures. Deciding to get a hair transplant is a big step and can be a significant investment, so many people want to know whether the surgery will provide a permanent solution to hair loss. One of the most commonly asked questions is “how long does a hair transplant last?” While concerns about the long-term success of hair transplants are understandable, for most patients the hair transplant will last a lifetime.  As a hair restoration doctor would explain, the results of a Hair Transplant Procedure can vary based on a number of factors and limitations. However, the two procedure types most commonly used — Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT), considered the gold standard of hair transplantation procedures, and Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) — are intended as permanent solutions to hair loss.

Your surgeon will need to be attentive and take into consideration the patient’s age, type of hair, and the unique lifestyle of the hair transplant recipient. The extent of hair loss previous to the surgery can affect the lifespan of the hair transplant. In some cases, a patient may need more than one hair transplant throughout their lifetime to achieve the desired result.

All patients that suffer from male pattern hair loss have a band of hair around the back and sides of their head that is immune to the balding process. This area of hair is referred to as the donor area. The surgeon will take the grafts for transplantation from this area. During these procedures, hair is transplanted from the permanent zones in the donor area in the back and sides of the scalp to the thinning and balding areas of the front, top, and crown. Because hair follicles are taken from regions that are genetically resistant to hair loss during these procedures, for most patients, the newly

implanted hair lasts forever. The follicles will have been moved from a donor section of your scalp, ensuring that not only is your scalp more likely to accept the transplants, but they will also begin to blend into the rest of your hair in the months following your transplant. Each follicle will continue to produce hair that grows naturally alongside the surrounding hairs and will behave in the same way as the rest of your hair.

While there is the slight risk that those suffering from pattern baldness will see further hair loss in the future, this can often be solved by a follow up treatment to transplant healthy hairs into the areas where the new loss has become apparent. The transplanted hairs, however, will remain strong and healthy. With routine care this hair will last a lifetime.

Your surgeon should take into account any family history of hair loss along with the reasons for your personal thinning hair or hair loss and will be able to better determine whether you are likely to lose hair in the future. By doing this your surgeon should be able to foresee and predict any potential future surgeries and design a hairline and density that will blend well with possible future procedures.

If you experience vertigo, otherwise known as the sensation of filling that you or your environment is spinning, then you might have balance issues. So what can physical therapy in Bowie, MD do for you? Well, first let’s talk some more about vertigo.

People who experience vertigo often have the issue of feeling dizzy, or lightheaded. Vertigo and lightheadedness can have different causes and different treatments but often occur together. Vertigo can affect people of all ages but it is very rare among children and very common in adults over the age of 20. However after you’ve hit the age of 65 and over, balance problems along with vertigo are much more dangerous because older people have a lot more balance issues and are more fragile so if they fall it could really hurt them.

Physical therapy can help you manage vertigo and dizziness and help you live your life with a higher quality of life.

Oftentimes vertigo is caused by the vestibular system which is the inner part of your ear that is responsible for your balance. There are a number of conditions that can cause vertigo such as inner ear infections or disorders, migraines, tumors such as acoustic neuroma, surgery that removes or injures the ear or its nerves, a hole in the inner ear, and stroke. This is not a complete list of everything that can cause vertigo as it can have other causes.

Along with vertigo, you may also experience nausea, vomiting, sweating, abnormal eye movements, ringing in one or both ears, and difficulty walking because you are not able to balance.

The most common form of vertigo is a benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, BPPV is an inner ear problem that causes short periods of spinning when your head is moved in certain directions. Sometimes people have something called visual vertigo which is a dizzy or unsteady feeling in stimulating visual settings; which makes activities like walking and store aisles and driving in traffic hard.

Physical therapy and Bowie, MD like the ones available at the Mid-Atlantic Spinal Rehab can help you by evaluating what is causing your vertigo and creating a plan. This plan will be tailor-made to you, focusing on your goals as you live life with vertigo. Exact treatment is going to depend extremely on the type of vertigo and the cause.

Your physical therapist is going to help get you moving and manage the vertigo, and treatment is often going to include specialized head or neck movement that you will be taught to do. There will also be exercises to help get rid of your symptoms; and certain types of vertigo and conditions have very specific treatment plans.

If you still have issues after vertigo stops then your therapist can target these problems specifically because they were obviously not caused only by the vertigo. So if performing an activity or a chore at home causes you to become dizzy then your therapist is going to be able to teach you how to do them in a different way to reduce or stop the dizziness.