Seniors and chiropractic care

Why chiropractic care is important for the aging population

Chiropractic care is important for the aging population because it helps keep the body functioning optimally. Health and mobility are very important to the aging population. Continue reading to find out why 🙂  Loosing your balance can decrease the quality of your life. How so, you ask? Well, slips and falls can lead to serious complications like wrist or hip fracture. Do you recall how it feels to have a joint limitation after a sprain or strain? Imagine how that would feel as a senior citizen.  And, imagine how limited you would become with your activities of daily living.  Being limited or inactive poses many other side effects like muscle atrophy over time, or social isolation with seniors when they become house bound. Becoming hospitalized after a fracture may pose some serious adverse effects like life-threatening pneumonia. These are all good reasons why keeping mobile and staying active and healthy can prevent something from occurring.  Things happen and we all experience injuries but if someone asked you if you could avoid an accident, would you? The answer would be yes. So take the necessary measures to do that starting now.

Chiropractic care focuses on treating neuromusculoskeletal system imbalances, which means addressing areas of weakness to improve strength, proprioception and balance. Chiropractic care may also decrease pain and the frequency of reoccurring pain by addressing spine or extremity limitations with gentle mobilizations/manipulations and muscle release techniques like Graston technique®(see my newsletter regarding this technique).

Rehabilitation and patient education about how to avoid slips and falls

The use of patient education on ways to prevent falls within the home, reassurance, and exercise prescription are very beneficial. Special considerations are made for patients with osteopenia (bone density lower than normal) or osteoporosis in terms of gentle spine and extremity work. Movement is key as weight-bearing activities stimulate osteoblasts (bone-building cells) like resistance training (weight lifting), jumping, jogging/walking depending on a person’s ability. Exercise prescription is made with a gradual progression and dependent on the person’s overall health status. If someone has existing cardiovascular conditions, or other medical conditions, these are taken into account to ensure a safe plan of action is made for any new therapeutic exercise prescription.

Here’s one general household tip and one balance training tip to help with avoiding unnecessary slips and falls. Do not have loose rugs around the house as they slide easily and can cause an accident. Improve your balance by doing a single-leg stand beside the wall or have a chair that you can easily hold on to. Try to keep your balance first with eyes open and then try with eyes closed for up to 30secs to 1min. Gradually open the eyes if you feel too unsteady. You can improve your balance and proprioception doing this simple exercise.

If you’d like to arrange an initial chiropractic appointment, email dr.mdavidovic@gmail.com 

or call 416-906-0767

Kinesiotaping: why try it?

Kinesiotaping

In my practice, I’ve had some promising outcomes with the use of Kinesiotaping technique. (I use both kinesiotape and Spidertech tape – different brands of tape, both work well.) The most noticeable changes are when someone comes in with a swollen joint or with bruises. The tape material is hypoallergenic and latex free. The tape is applied to the affected area in a way where the skin is gently lifted. This allows room for inflammation to clear out in order for the bruising to fade faster. Or, you can PRICE (protection, rest, ice, compression, elevation) the affected area, but this will take longer to heal. Taping can also be used to help relax tight muscles by applying a special stretch technique. Or to even activate weak muscles. Taping can also be used for joint/postural support.

As a chiropractor, I love being able to have a variety of tools to utilize in helping patients recover faster in a safe and effective manner. There is even a special version of the tape that can be used for people with sensitive skin! For the most part, I’ve been using spider tech tape in my practice and the colour options are the following: beige, black, pink and blue. The variation in colour has no effect in the taping method used. They are just there for fun 🙂

Here’s a clinical example of how taping has helped speed up recovery:

A patient who was struck in the back of the leg as seen in the collage: after 11 days with the use of kinesiotaping technique to decrease inflammation, the bruising/inflammation is practically gone! Around this period, without tape, your bruise would be yellowish-brown. But, that all depends on the severity of the bruise and the persons overall health. I forgot to take a photo of the injured leg pre-tape job on the 23rd, but you can gather the area was quite bruised as seen in the pictures.

If you’d like to arrange an initial chiropractic visit or follow-up visit, and would like to try kinesiotaping, email dr.mdavidovic@gmail.com or call 416-906-0767 to arrange your follow-up