Aging Well

Are you looking forward to getting old? Most probably not.

Since time immemorial, people have looked for ways to turn back, or at least, momentarily stop the hands of time and counter its effects on the human body. From the fountain of youth to the latest fad diets and treatments, the common thread that you will see is that aging is such a dreadful thing.

And it is fairly easy to see why. There are plenty of reasons why people are afraid of getting old. On one hand, as vain as it may sound, your looks will change. And then you have to deal with the loss of your physical and mental capacity. But scratching beneath the surface, there’s that dread that after years of providing for your family, you will be the one that needs to be taken care of. Or worse, that nobody will take care of you when the need arises. True or not, such thoughts can be quite painful for most people.

Certainly, there have been plenty of improvements in medicine that in turn have led to an increase in the quality of life for the elderly.

One such development is chiropractic care.

For a lot of people, aging has become synonymous with physical pain. But the opposite is true: aging does not mean that you have to be a prisoner of pain. But what exactly is pain?

Pain can either be acute or chronic. In acute pain, the pain is associated with tissue damage like those that occur in an injury, surgery or even in a disease that affects the tissue. But as the tissue structure re-establishes itself, pain becomes diminished.

Chronic pain, on the other hand, is the type of pain that is persistent, ranging from three months or longer. In this type of pain, the original source of the pain has been resolved and yet the patient is still in pain. The persistence of this pain can affect normal movement as well as one’s mental and emotional well-being. It has been suggested that chronic pain affects a person down to his or her nervous system

Where does chiropractic figure in all of these?

Through chiropractic care, the elderly can be assisted in diminishing pain while improving their quality of life. Chiropractors can also help prevent acute pain from worsening into chronic pain.

Apart from employing spinal adjustments that lead to pain symptoms, chiropractors may use mobilization, trigger point therapy and offer invaluable advice about nutrition, posture, exercise and home management.