Blog

Why Do Older Adults Move Slower?

As we age many factors limit our ability to move as quickly as we used to including disease processes, medications, neurological changes, balance impairments, and importantly weakness.  Age related weakness is a major contributor to falls, less independent living, and lower quality of life in older adults.  Age related muscle loss begins for most adults...

A Simple Exercise To Improve Your Longevity

As Physical Therapists, we frequently work with patients on restoring lost function from pain, injury, surgery, or disease.   Our brains have evolved over time to find and focus on the areas of our life that are missing, often at the expense of what is present.  For example, the painful back or swollen knee prevents us...

Loss Of Grip Strength Associated With Higher Risk Of Dementia

Dementia is one of the most common mental health disorders affecting many older adults around the world. Authors estimate 50 million around the world suffer with this diagnosis at a staggering cost of 1 trillion dollars a year. Although the causes of dementia are multifactorial previous researchers have shown many modifiable risk factors, including smoking,...

The CDC reports one in four adults over the age of 65 have sustained a fall in the previous year. The rate of falls is expected to increase as our older American population continues to age. Consequences of falling include fracture, head injury, and a higher risk of mortality after the fall. Authors report a...

Exercise remains one of the best interventions to improve cognition, memory, and executive function in older adults, as well as, those with a decline in these functions such as Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. The research has developed from correlational studies showing more active individuals demonstrated higher cognitive function to more recent studies showing the impact...

The United States witnessed a significant increase in life expectancy over the 20th century with much of the improvement attributed to improved sanitation, vaccinations, medications, and access to healthcare. In addition, significant improvements in lifestyle factors were also noted including nutrition, smoking cessation, and exercise. Exercise plays a unique role in aging due to its’...

Yogi Berra famously said, “when you come to a fork in the road, take it”. These forks come frequently in life and allow us to make decisions and take actions which have large impacts on our future relationships, employment opportunities, and our health. The decision to exercise in adults is an important one because of...