POSTURE, BALANCE, HELP I’M FALLING

Osteoporosis treatment has today become a megabillion dollar business.  It was built on advertising calling osteoporosis a disease and a bone destroying disease at that.  Osteoporosis seems to be a main cause of fractures if you follow the advertising and media.  However, osteoporosis is probably responsible for very few fractures.  Some vertebral compression fractures are thought to occur spontaneously due too osteoporosis.  These are generally painful for up to six to twelve weeks and pain generally spontaneously resolves.  The main cause of fractures in the elderly is falling, not osteoporosis.  The hip and wrist fractures which are common generally occur with a fall.  With or without osteoporosis treatment these fractures will generally not occur if there is no fall, and they will occur if there is a fall.

The key to preventing fractures in the elderly is to prevent falling.  The question then becomes, “Why do they fall?”  There are many reasons for falling.  Being alone and disoriented in a nursing home, balance problems, eyesight and hearing problems promoting disorientation, bad matchup of floor surfacing or carpets and shoewear promoting trips and falls, lack of companionship, lightheadedness, poor posture, poor muscle and joint control and poor coordination are some of the important causes of falling.  All of these problems should be addressed and optimized to help prevent falls and associated fractures.

Healthy regular mental and physical exercise is certainly important for the elderly.  The STRETCHING FOR PAIN RELIEF routine is an activity that can help with posture, balance, and muscle and joint coordination.  You may often see younger people with stooped or bent over postures, and older people who may be fixed in an awkward looking posture.  What happens over time is as we age and the muscles and ligaments shorten, stiffen, and harden, they will tend to do so in the position they are most used to.  The younger person who stands with bent back and neck and stooped shoulders can ordinarily readily assume an erect posture with back straight, abdomen sucked in, lungs expanded with air, and neck and head held erect.  This posture will essentially stretch out and lengthen the spine.  But when poor bent over stooped posture becomes the norm, then the muscles and ligaments and subsequently the bone can become fixed in this position over time.

Many people stand with their torso bent forward over their pelvis.  This posture causes great stress on the muscles and ligaments of the back.  A much healthier posture is to bring the center of gravity backwards as far as comfortably possible to decrease stress on the back.  Stand up straight and tall stretching out your spine with abdomen sucked in, chest expanded, and head tall.  This posture will prevent the bent over stiff posture of many elderly persons.

Make this healthy posture your starting posture for the STRETCHING FOR PAIN RELIEF routine.  Carry this posture with you through the day.  Repeating the STRETCHING FOR PAIN RELIEF routine through the day will serve as a reminder to maintain a healthy posture, and will serve as a stabilizing force for balance and muscle and joint coordination, and can help avoid falls, especially when combined with further healthy exercise.