Transcription:
Tips for Successful Aging

Melanie Cole (Host): Physical activity is a vital part of staying healthy. As we age, our bodies change, our soft tissues and joints can break down, and we’re at greater risk for loss of bone density and for osteoporosis. My guest today, is Ethan Roberts. He’s a Physical Therapist and Board-Certified Orthopedic Clinical Specialist with Meritus Health. Welcome to the show, Ethan.

Ethan Roberts (Guest): Thank you.

Melanie: Let’s start with some of the effects of aging on our soft tissue, on our joints, just pretty much on everything. Give us a little rundown on some of these effects we really don’t want to think about.

Ethan: Well, yes, as we age, unfortunately, we’re not like wine and cheese – they’re about the only things that get better with age, as we say. A lot of things happen. For one, we tend to lose muscle mass. A certain percentage every decade as we age, we lose. We tend to get stiffer – that’s in the joints and in the soft tissue. We, unfortunately, tend to gain more fat. That’s especially once we get to our 40s, 50s, and beyond, every decade we tend to add a little more fat and lose a little bit more muscle mass.

So yes, often things that seem easier to do when we were younger become more difficult. We lose -- even our arteries, and with our blood flow, they become stiffer. Often times people end up developing high blood pressure. All of these things tend to occur with age, but there is hope that through activity and exercise, we can dampen down the effects of these things as we do age.

Melanie: Ethan, speaking specifically for women and peri- and postmenopausal women – because we’re losing estrogen, and so as a result – our bodies are changing pretty rapidly – do you, as a Physical Therapist, see an increase in injuries – and in men – in older adults, things like rotator cuff, throwing their back out, hips, knees, just these sorts of things?

Ethan: We do, often times, and it’s often times a combination of things. We have these things, as we mentioned earlier, occurring, and then often times we also – our activity tends to decrease. It’s kind of a vicious cycle. You’re getting stiffer and weaker, and your activity decreases, and let’s face it, our bodies are really built to move. Actually, the more we can move, the better for us in the long run. We do, often times see soft tissue and joint factors – you mentioned the osteoporosis. One of the biggest things we can do – and it’s been proven through studies and science is activity, especially weight-bearing exercises, helps to increase the bone thickness, which is what’s – basically, in a nutshell, osteoporosis is a thinning of the bones, which folks end up at greater risk for things such as fractures. The more we can do, the less chance of that occurring.

Melanie: As we do these types of exercise – and we all hear – the American College of Sports Medicine recommends 150 minutes a week to keep us active and moving, but what types of other exercises and things can we do to help us stave off some of these effects of aging?

Ethan: It’s important to look at different types of exercise. I know you mentioned the American College of Sports Medicine. Certainly, they talk about – and we, as clinicians also, you want to look at different things. Aerobic-type exercises, we’ve heard about the benefits of cardiovascular, the benefits – actually, we didn’t mention it yet, but diabetes is a huge problem in the aging population, especially in the community we live in. Exercised is proven to help with the body’s uptake of glucose or blood sugar to help keep that happening more effectively and more efficiently. Cardiovascular or aerobic exercise is a big component.

With that, also, is strength training. Strength training, you can certainly get cardiovascular benefits, as well, but when we look at combining endurance and strength training, you get – these benefits are even magnified more greatly. We want to look at not only aerobic exercise but also trying to have a strength component, as well. You mentioned earlier about the rotator cuffs, and different things like that – certain targeted exercises are really, really beneficial for just general health, but also some of those more specific things that we come across.

Also, flexibility. Flexibility is another big component. We talked about earlier how our soft tissues and our joints get stiffer over time, and that’s just the natural course. However, like everything else, we can dampen down the effects of that with regular flexibility exercises, as well, so, general stretching. Depending on the situation, again, when we see patients, we’ll do an assessment, you may find that certain muscle groups are tighter than others.

Now, a common situation is where folks – we do a lot of sitting, and we’ve all heard that sitting is the new smoking. Now, for example, someone who sits at a desk or drives for a living, or is just basically less active, we tend to stiffen up; we tend to get a forward head posture, rounded shoulders, those kinds of things. That person is generally going to be stiff in the top part of their neck and in their chest and in their hip flexor muscles. Those types of people, when you look at targeting flexibility exercises, there are going to be certain muscle groups that you’re going to look at stretching more so than others.

Melanie: Another thing that older people need to worry about is balance and falls prevention, and some functional exercises, because we hear a lot, now -- in the media also -- Ethan, about doing functional exercises. Explain a little bit about balance exercises, the importance of those, and what functional exercises might be to help them go about the activities of their daily life without as much stress and strain.

Ethan: Right, balance is a huge, huge component of folks as they age. Actually, balance kind of ties in with the strengthening and the flexibility. You can’t really work on balance independent of those other things. Now, you had mentioned something about functional exercises. Those are types of things -- when we talk about as we age we lose muscle mass, but we also lose our ability to respond quickly to a balance challenge, for example. That’s where doing things where we not only concentrate on gaining general strength but also some speed involved with strength as well as looking at overall power. One common example that we look about is practicing, say a squatting activity or a sitting to a standing activity – something that we do every day, but yet, really lends itself to being actually an exercise, especially in folks that may be deconditioned. It’s something that we can vary as far as speed and/or resistance to really tie into something that we do every day, and it’s vital for us to maintain our independence.

Melanie: How else can we help ourselves as we age? We’ve talked a little bit about some injuries, and falls, balance, and functional, and cardiovascular, and strength training, all of these things, but there are also things that we can do that can help our mind and our body, whether it’s Yoga, meditation, or helping out in our community.

Ethan: Absolutely, and that’s – a couple of points on that. Many, many studies have shown folks that if they stay more engaged with either their family, their friends, or their community, they tend to age better – less risks of developing worsening if it’s already present or developing anxiety or depression. And just circling back to the exercise again, another – it’s been proven by studies many, many times. The symptoms of anxiety and depression are many times lessened or managed much more effectively with exercise as a component. But yes, staying active and engaged in a community has so many benefits for people not only physically, but psychologically.

Also, just trying to stay positive. There are a lot of studies that look at folks with anxiety and depression, which become more common as we age that having a certain mindset in that – the old adage where you look at the glass half full versus half empty, trying to be grateful for the things that you have in your life. Even sometimes people journaling or writing down a list of the good things that they have in their life, which can catch people from getting too caught up in oh, well, I’m stiff, and I’m sore, and I can’t do this, and I can’t do that. But yes, I can do this, this, this, and this, and it helps bring a different perspective to things.

Melanie: So wrap it up for us, Ethan, if you would, and just review the benefits of exercise for a healthy living as we age for reducing some of the arthritic joints and pain, and you’re a physical therapist – tell us what you tell people every day is your best advice for living this healthy lifestyle as we age.

Ethan: Figure out a way to stay active. It doesn’t – we talked briefly about exercise. Exercise doesn’t always include having to go to a gym. There are a lot of different varieties of activity in exercise. People consider walking, gardening, cleaning, even things where you stay active during the day, that all adds up. That’s another thing I try to tell people too. Don’t get discouraged. Find time – find things that you enjoy, and try to do them. Make time to do things.

We see a lot of people that have obviously arthritic joints and pains, and there is not just one way to exercise. We didn’t touch on it earlier, but things such as exercise equipment, exercise bikes, aquatic exercises – there are different things that people can try to try to stay active but yet not flare some of the symptoms that they have. And also, just keeping a positive mindset, and enjoying the family and friends and staying active in the community.

Melanie: Thank you so much, Ethan, for being with us today. It’s really great information and so important for listeners to hear. You’re listening to Your Health Matters with Meritus Health. For more information, you can go to MeritusHealth.com, that’s MeritusHealth.com. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.