Chiropractic Helps Seniors Stay Active

Betty Friedan, author of The Fountain of Age, once said, “Aging is not lost youth but a new stage of opportunity and strength.” With one-fifth of the population expected to be 65-years-old or older by the year 2030, this presents our office many chances to help our aging population experience later years filled with more joy than pain and greater mobility to do the things that they’ve waited all of their lives to do. This is extremely important since almost one-quarter of all individuals in this range report having back pain.

Chiropractic care can generally provide relief, and it has been deemed safe too. In fact, after reviewing a variety of different studies, one group of researchers couldn’t find any reportedly adverse side effects after engaging in spinal manipulation therapy. They concluded that this was likely due to using less force on patients in this age range.

Another common type of pain experienced by older adults is neck pain. However, one study published in The Spine Journal found that after 12 weeks of treatment, individuals with this type of pain who engaged in chiropractic care and home exercises reported that their discomfort lessened by 10 percent.

Resources

Dougherty P et al. (2012). The role of chiropractic care in older adults. Chiropractic & Manual Therapies;20(3):doi:10.1186/2045-709X-20-3

Maiers M et al. (2014, September). Spinal manipulative therapy and exercise for seniors with chronic neck pain. The Spine Journal;14(9):1879-89