Falls in the senior population are preventable, but we need to change what we are doing. Most balance issues begin with gait and how we learn to walk. Some of us develop less than ideal gait habits that are detectable in children. Recently, scientists evaluated seniors with above average longevity and found that seniors with better than average balance had nerve cells in the brain that appeared to be more youthful and improved gait may also be related to a reduction in dementia as the patient ages. Children complaining of knee or shin pain should be properly evaluated by sports chiropractors who look at them holistically and can perform a functional evaluation to help you help them. The most obvious reason for falls are medications. Seniors are taking too many of them and often, these meds contribute to a loss of balance and may even reduce their senses overall. A balance clue we should pay attention to. A basic skill we all should master is getting out of a chair. A recent post in the blog Senior Health Secrets, suggests that the skill of getting out of a chair. You can read the blog and the great content in it which speaks about the loss of muscle tone and how one particular senior was proud of her ability to walk four miles daily, yet getting out of a chair was getting more difficult for her no matter how much she walked. To keep things simple, getting out of a chair is a mechanical endeavor requiring the ability to hip hinge. This is partially due to muscle tone but is also a function of the fascial system that controls movement. If you cannot hip hinge, you will have difficulty getting out of a chair. This is as I discussed in an earlier blog post why we sell more SUV’s in our country. They are easier to get into and slide out of than a sedan. My mom moved to a small SUV for that reason. When you lose these abilities, you are also losing muscle tone. You are also having adaptations in your brain that affect balance and may even cause vertigo. Having an assistive chair may help, but it does nothing to aid you in reversing this degenerative process. Walkers prevent falls but also make people more dependent on them. Is it a muscle fiber problem? As taken from the blog post: “Your muscles aren’t uniform. They’re made of two fundamentally different fiber types, and they age at wildly different rates. Type I fibers (slow-twitch): Sustain long, steady effort Power your walking, standing, daily movement Fueled by oxygen and fat Fatigue-resistant Used when you walk, climb stairs slowly, stand for long periods Type II fibers (fast-twitch): Generate explosive force Fire rapidly for quick, powerful movements Fueled by stored glucose (glycogen) Fatigue quickly Used when you stand from a chair, catch yourself from tripping, climb stairs quickly, lift something heavy After age 30, Type II fibers start declining. But after 60, the loss accelerates dramatically. Research published in Experimental Gerontology found that by age 70, the average person retains about 70% of their peak Type I fiber strength but only 40-50% of their Type II fiber power. Put another way: power output declines 2-3 times faster than endurance capacity with aging.“ How to regain the ability to reduce falls and improve muscular and neurological tone The article in senior health secrets suggests a number of exercises you can do. Read the article below Why Walking Doesn’t Prevent Falls (And What Does) How your sports chiropractor can help you by understanding your balance issues. Balance is something we work on with patients on a daily basis. While there are certain exercises that may help you get out of a chair better than before, we routinely help patients improve gait, balance, and improve neurologically too. It all begins with a thorough evaluation and history before any treatment begins. Movement is what separates chiropractic methods because the main methods chiropractors use including exercises, manipulation and myofascial methods to improve how you move all contribute to improved levels of flexibility. Improving how you walk reduces falls. Improving the ability of the core using treat test treat methods shows us how you are doing and we follow your improvement carefully tailoring the treatment to you and your individual needs. While the article offers some great advice, it is one size fits all. Our goals are your goals. Improve balance, reduce drug dependence, improve weight distribution while walking and you are less likely to fall. It is that simple. We will develop a program specific to your individual needs to improve balance and reduce the likelihood of falling. Need help today? Book online of call our offices in No. Brunswick and S. Plains.