There may be hope yet for a promising therapy to help reduce falls among the elderly: A Mayo Clinic study found that a special exercise program, paired with a unique back support device, helped women over 60 (with osteoporosis-caused curvature of the spine) improve their balance and experience diminished back pain.
Such findings are especially important, as falls present a serious risk of injury in the elderly population; in fact, falls can lead to permanent lifestyle changes such as:
Falling Findings
Past studies have found people who live in communities have an increased risk of falls and fractures than those whose mobility is severely restricted. Researchers observed the progress of 12 women over age 60 who suffered from kyphosis--a progressive curvature of the spine that includes severe, progressive muscle weakness and causes a stooping posture.
Their risk of falls and balance were studied and compared with 13 women who didn't have the condition.
Each patient was outfitted with a weighted back support device known as a kypho-orthosis that centers its weight on the posterior of the spine and helps the person center her body better over her legs. At the start of the study, the two groups exhibited significant differences, but within four weeks the women with kyphosis began to show significant improvements in:
What made this study particularly impressive was that while most studies of falls merely address the effects of sedatives, weakness of the lower extremity muscles and neuromuscular diseases, researchers of this study wanted to see how intervention--in the form of exercise with the help of a support device--could shift one's center of gravity and improve gait and back strength.
Mayo Clinic Proceedings July 2005, Vol. 80, No. 7: 847-848 (Free Full-Text Report)
News-Medical.net July 6, 2005
Use it or lose it is the simple summary.
Not only is exercise useful for prevention of heart disease, but it is also phenomenal for prevention and treatment of virtually every chronic disease, including osteoporosis, and for protecting the central and autonomic nervous system, which helps keep your body in proper balance and alignment.
While the importance of exercise in everyone's life is hard to deny, if its beneficial effects can be improved upon through conventional technology that does not cause harm to its recipients, I'm all for it.
If you'd like to learn even more about how you can train your body to be less vulnerable to falling, I would also recommend reviewing this recent column by Paul Chek, owner of the C.H.E.K. Institute, and one of the leading experts in exercise in the United States today.
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