Senior Care

It is imperative that you do all you can to protect yourself from degeneration, illness and accidents that can rob you of many additional years of healthy and happy living. If the joints, muscles and nerves that make up your musculoskeletal system aren't kept functioning properly, you may be jeopardizing your overall health and well-being. Chiropractic is designed to maximize musculoskeletal health so that you can feel better over the entire course of a long life.

WHAT CAN CHIROPRACTIC DO?

Dynamic Chiropractic's gerontology columnist, Barbara Zapotocky, has confidently asserted that: "Chiropractors are the best suited and positioned health care professionals to care for an aging population." This isn't an overstatement, because chiropractic is a health care system that for more than a century has been devoted to conservative care that features minimal intervention and limits on costly hospitalization and potentially dangerous and disruptive medications. Most of all, doctors of chiropractic are trained in maintaining wellness by gentle, reassuring, safe and effective techniques and counseling that can play a role in suspending or reversing the aging process.

Chiropractic is as committed to anti-aging as it is to pain relief. Chiropractors realize that aging and older patients require special assessment of their problems, with support, treatment and management goals tailored to their unique health situation and needs. Moreover, chiropractic is especially useful in restoring and maintaining joint, muscle, nerve and soft tissue health, which is fundamental to keeping older people fit and flexible, feeling good and functioning at their highest potential. Chiropractic clinicians regularly counsel their patients on how to employ flexibility and weight-bearing exercise for better health. They offer guidance on how diet and supplements combine to provide health-sustaining and life-prolonging nutrition. They can help you control your weight, your blood pressure and your cholesterol level, help you prevent or cope with osteoporosis and osteoarthritis.

Chiropractic adjustments are well suited to safely and effectively address and prevent a wide range of problems encountered by the elderly. More and more aging men and women rely on doctors of chiropractic to remove some of the underlying skeletal and muscular causes of the distress, debilitation and depression that plagues so many older individuals. Chiropractors have the skills to reduce pain and infirmity, give even older patients greater mobility, more robust good health, and a more-confident expectation that the future can encompass many more fulfilling years of functioning better and feeling younger.

"I've been feeling a lot better!! And, I take daily 1/2 mile walks in a 1/2 hour. Not bad for an 80 year old man and I give you all the credit!! You are the greatest!!" – JB

References

- Killinger LZ, Trauma in the geriatric patient: A chiropractic perspective with a focus on prevention. Topics in Clinical Chiropractic, 1998; vol. 5, no. 3, pp10-15.
- AGS Panel on Chronic Pain in Older Persons. The management of chronic pain in older persons. Journal of American Geriatric Society, 1998; vol. 46, pp635-51.
- Mazzeo RS, Cavanaugh P, et al. Exercise and physical activity for older adults. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, June 1998; vol. 30, no. 6, pp992-8.
- Hawk C, Killinger LZ, et al. Chiropractic training in care of the geriatric patient: An assessment. Journal of the Neuromusculoskeletal System, Spring 1997; vol. 5, no. 1, pp15-25.
- Klatz R, Goldman R. Stopping the Clock. New Canaan, CT: Keats Publishing, 1996.
- Gottlieb MS. Conservative management of spinal osteoarthritis with glucosamine sulfate and chiropractic treatment. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, 1997; vol.20, no. 6, pp400-14.
- Swezey R. Exercise for osteoporosis--Is walking enough?: The case for site-specific and resistive exercise. Spine, 1996; vol. 21, no. 23, pp2809-13.
- Fisher NM, Pendergast DR. Reduced muscle function in patients with osteoarthritis, Scandinavian Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine, 1997; vol.29, pp213-21.
- Perle SM, Mutell DB, Romanelli R. Age-related changes in skeletal muscle strength and modifications through exercise: A literature review. Journal of Sports Chiropractic, Sept. 1997; vol. 11, no. 3, pp97-103.
- Quinn K, Basu TK. Folate and vitamin B12 status of the elderly. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1996; vol. 50, pp340-42.



Topics in Clinical Chiropractic 1996: June, Vol 3(2): pgs. 46-55.

A three-year study of senior citizens over 75 years of age revealed that seniors who receive chiropractic care spend fewer days in hospitals and nursing homes than elderly non-chiropractic patients.

Senior citizens under chiropractic care report better overall health, have fewer chronic conditions, and are less likely to use prescription drugs than non-chiropractic patients.

The senior chiropractic patients were more likely to exercise vigorously and more likely to be active in the community.

87% of senior citizens under chiropractic care described their health status as good or excellent, compared to only 65% of non-chiropractic patients.

Chiropractic patients spend 15% less time in nursing homes and 21% less time in hospitals than the non-chiropractic patients.

As the population ages, more people are consulting doctors of chiropractic, especially in their later years. As we live longer, there are growing concerns about over-medication and the side effects of combining various prescription drugs. Safe, natural chiropractic care is growing in popularity. Restoring proper nerve and spinal function can help improve mobility, vitality, and endurance, and therefore the quality of life.



Blood Pressure and Chiropractic

A one-time chiropractic adjustment of a misaligned neck vertebra has been shown to significantly reduce blood pressure in people with hypertension, according to a pilot study by University of Chicago researchers.

When the vertebra, known as the Atlas, or C1, was manipulated in 25 people with high blood pressure, both their systolic and diastolic readings decreased significantly, equal to taking two blood-pressure drugs at once.

High blood pressure, or hypertension, is defined in an adult as a systolic pressure of 140 or higher and/or a diastolic pressure of 90 or higher. The mean blood pressure of those who had the adjustment was 147 systolic before adjustment and 129.8 systolic after. The mean diastolic reading was 92.5 before adjustment and 82.3 after.

For years anecdotal reports have linked blood pressure and neck pain, according to the study's lead author, Dr. George Bakris, director of the hypertension center at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

The Atlas vertebra, which lies high in the neck, is not anchored like other vertebrae, so it easily slips out of alignment. It relies solely on muscles and ligaments to stay in place. The vertebra also can become displaced without pain and often goes undetected and untreated.

Problem long recognized

"Even back in the 1960s and '70s, neurosurgeons and some specialized chiropractors knew that things change when you realign C1," Bakris said.
"But there has not been the rigor of the scientific method applied to see what's going on. We wanted to find out if this effect lasts longer than a week or two."

Enough chiropractic specialists were aware of the phenomenon to limit their practice to manual alignment of C1. They make up the National Upper Cervical Chiropractic Association. It was a Chicago member of the association, Marshall Dickholtz Sr., to whom patients with high blood pressure and misaligned C1 were sent for the study. Half the patients received a tailor-made adjustment; half received a "sham intervention." Patients were assessed after the alignment as well as at the end of eight weeks.

"We were shocked to find out that we got more than double what we expected in blood pressure reduction," Bakris said. Patients did not need to resume taking blood pressure medicine. The effect lasted for months.

Wide-ranging effects

People with a misaligned Atlas vertebra have leg-length disparities that are noticeable when the person lies down and their heel positions are compared.
When patients turn their head to the left or right, their heel position changes. If the heels do not appear parallel to one another or change on head-turning, the Atlas is misaligned.

"There's a lot of nerve traffic through that area," Bakris said. "We have to figure out why it's happening."

Study results mean that people with Stage 1 hypertension who are in their 40s and 50s may be freed from blood pressure medication for a time. Older patients on three or four medications may be able to reduce their pill count.

Dr. Chuck Woodfield, a chiropractic researcher in Bellingham, Wash., was part of the research team.

When the Atlas misaligns, you get cascaded effects. There are changes in posture and the way blood flows to the brain stem. This sets up an inflammatory process. When you adjust the Atlas, posture comes back to somewhat normal and inflammation decreases. It improves overall health.