Chiropractic Treatment Can Protect Your Health as You Grow Older
No matter how carefully you care for your body, chances are it won't function quite as well at 70 as it did at 30. Wear and tear on your joints and weakening muscles may lead to poor balance and coordination, while digestive problems, insomnia, and other issues can affect your quality of life. Fortunately, chiropractic treatment offers a simple solution to these and other age-related issues.
Chiropractic Treatment Relieves Pain Naturally
Playing tennis, participating in hobbies, gardening, or playing with your grandchildren become difficult when your joints and muscles hurt. Pain medication dulls the ache but only temporarily. Relying on medication can lead to addiction issues or increase your risk of stomach ulcers.
Chiropractic treatment offers an effective way to ease pain and decrease your reliance on medication. Spinal manipulation, massage, soft tissue manipulation, and other treatments relieve pain and inflammation and increase flexibility and range of motion. Chiropractic therapies help your body manage pain naturally by triggering the release of endorphins. These chemicals relieve pain and stress while improving our mood.
Treatments can be helpful if you have arthritis, disc issues, spinal stenosis, muscle pain, bursitis, tendonitis, and other painful conditions.
Digestive System Function May Improve with Chiropractic Treatment
In addition to joint and muscle pain, digestive problems become more common as you grow older. In fact, 40 percent of older people have at least one digestive symptom every year, according to WebMD. If you've been struggling with heartburn, constipation, gas, diarrhea, acid reflux, or another gastrointestinal problem, a visit to the chiropractor may help you control your symptoms.
In some cases, gastrointestinal problems are caused or worsened when misaligned vertebrae press against the nerves that serve your digestive system. Spinal manipulation, a chiropractic treatment commonly known as an "adjustment," realigns your vertebrae, decreasing pressure on the nerves.
Worried About Falls? Your Chiropractor Can Help You Improve Your Balance
Flexible joints and strong muscles are essential for balance and coordination. Unfortunately, age-related changes stiffen joints and cause loss of muscle mass and strength. The problem can be worsened by imbalances caused by the misalignment of your spine.
Chiropractic treatments restore normal alignment and relieve tension on muscles, ligaments, and tendons, helping you keep your balance. Treatments may also reduce dizziness and improve the function of joint receptors in your neck that help you keep track of the position of your limbs.
Visiting the Chiropractor Can Improve Your Quality of Life
When your joints and muscles no longer ache and your constipation or acid reflux are under control, staying home on the couch is no longer the only option. Chiropractic treatment can help you stay active, participate in the activities you enjoy, and boost your energy level.
Do you find it difficult to fall asleep or stay asleep? Chiropractic treatment might improve the length and quality of your sleep. Researchers who published a 2010 literature review in the Journal of Chiropractic Medicine noted that patients who received chiropractic treatment noticed an improvement in insomnia symptoms. They recommended additional research to study just how chiropractic therapies affect sleep problems.
In addition to eating a healthy diet and exercising often, chiropractic treatment can help you stay healthy as you grow older. Let us know if you're ready to schedule your appointment.
Sources:
NCBI: Journal of Chiropractic Medicine: A Review of the Literature on Chiropractic and Insomnia, 09/2010
WebMD: Aging and Digestive Health
Chiropractic & Manual Therapies: The Role of Chiropractic Care in Older Adults, 2/21/12
BMC Geriatrics: The Profile of Older Adults Seeking Chiropractic Care: A Secondary Analysis, 4/23/21