Healthy aging looks different for everyone. A person’s prior health status, genetics, and life experiences can all weigh heavily on one’s ability to age well. Part of a healthy aging process is maintaining independence in your later years. One important component to healthy aging is how well you can maintain your mobility. Aspects of maintaining mobility include adequate balance, strength, and endurance.
As you age, the likelihood that additional co-morbidities (other complicating medical conditions) is also likely higher. This means that addressing the foundations of mobility (such as balance, strength, and endurance) may not be a straight forward proposition when seeking to maintain your activity level. Research concludes that appropriate strength training and cardiovascular exercise training is a key component to the treatment and management of most chronic illnesses that affect the aging adult.
For many, the main barrier to implementing an exercise as medicine approach is uncertainty and the fear of causing more harm. How can you properly perform the exercises needed to address the impairments requiring treatment while working around other complicating medical conditions including arthritis, joint pain (knee pain), back pain or shoulder pain?
A physical therapist (PT) is uniquely qualified to understand your individual medical history as well as the difference between “abnormal” and “normal” aging and physiology. A properly trained PT can guide you on how to best and safely improve the foundations of mobility in the presence of complicating medical conditions.
Physical therapists and the field of physical therapy can help lead the way for those desiring to age well. Physical therapy can even be used as a preventative medicine to ward off many of the prominent illnesses attributed to aging.
Listen to my past guest appearance on The Longevity and Biohacking Show, in which I discuss Longevity through Physical Therapy. Jason Hartman and I specifically discuss how physical therapy can be used to manage and prevent conditions such as diabetes, osteoporosis, heart disease, and dementia. Humans were designed to move much more than our current lifestyles afford us. Maintaining your mobility is critical for all body functions and is fundamental in avoiding chronic illness.
As the exercise as medicine approach is coming to the forefront of recommended treatment options for chronic disease management and treatment, so has the concept of the medical fitness center (which are also known as medically oriented gyms or medically integrated health centers). These facilities are now being recognized as an important part of a healthcare system’s continuum of care. They are run by physicians, hospital groups, exercise physiologists or other ancillary health professionals (physical therapists). The staff is qualified to teach, help guide, and monitor each individual on how to safely implement the proper exercise prescription to improve quality of life and prevent or manage chronic disease and illness in order to age well.
Maybe most importantly, medical fitness centers are places where people with multiple medical risk factors, diseases or illnesses (such as diabetes, obesity, and osteoporosis) can feel comfortable with the care and instruction provided in a safe and appropriate environment.
If you desire to live a long healthful life, take personal responsibility and embrace the importance of a proper exercise and diet prescription while focusing attention on how to best age well. Seek the assistance of a medical professional who can guide you through this process. We are all capable of successfully aging if we are intentional about the process.
If you’re interested in learning more about how physical therapy can help you to age successfully and improve your health span, be sure to subscribe to my e-mail list and YouTube channel as well as join our community on Facebook by liking The Physical Therapy Advisor!