You’re only as young as you feel: Osteopathy for the elderly

As we get older, many of us become frustrated with the fact that we experience more aches and pains, muscle problems, strains and injuries. This is due to our body losing elasticity and flexibility and its ability to recover quickly from exercise, as well as our cells’ decreasing ability to renew themselves.

Pain appears, and the body bends and contorts into positions to adapt, but in the long term this can lead to more pain. Eventually, we struggle with standing properly, our body is unbalanced and falls become an issue.

In the case that these pains seem to come from nowhere for no apparent reason, it may be linked to a phenomenon whereby the emotional and physical traumas of life have led to body being unable to cope or compensate. It can feel as though the 'straw has broken the camel’s back' (although this may be in areas of the body other than the back!).

Osteopathic treatment can help you – or older relatives – restore your body so that relapses of current symptoms and/or further injuries can be prevented. Gentle soft tissue and articulatory techniques can be used amongst others to maintain health, improve mobility, circulation and immune function and reduce joint stiffness so that you can enjoy life to the full.

We recommend that, even if you do consult an osteopath, to apply these golden rules to your everyday life:

• Stretch daily to maintain tissue elasticity and joint mobility
• Walk as much as possible to keep circulation healthy and maintain muscle tone
• Take daily rest, to recover energy for the rest of the day's activities
• Wear trainers can help to reduce wear and tear to the knee and hip joints, and can also help reduce back pain when walking on hard pavements

All that said, painkillers are only a temporary solution to the aches and pains associated with ageing. For more permanent relief it is necessary to eliminate the underlying causes of pain, a job for which us osteopaths are specifically trained.

When the spine starts to deteriorate and the posture becomes bent forward it, places huge strain on the back and neck joints and muscles. Treatment can help improve posture by using gentle stretching and soft tissue techniques thereby relieving the strain through the joints.

And don’t worry, treatment is gentle and completely non-invasive. We guide the stiff joint through its range of movement, gently stretching and easing away stiffness. Associated tissues may also require treatment to ensure that they are functioning well in order to compensate for the damaged joint.

In chronic cases it may not be the actual arthritic joint that causes most of the pain. The body often naturally tries to protect the joint by supporting it with muscle spasm, which may be the source of the aches and pains. Soft tissue and stretching techniques can reduce this excessive muscle tension, ease the pain and improve your movement. This is where maintenance treatments come into their own and keep the pain to a minimum, as well as treat issues before they grow into too much of a problem.

With people living longer, we want to keep you active so you can enjoy your favourite sports and activities, whether it be tennis, golf, walking the dogs or gardening for as long as possible. We treat many spritely 80 year olds and keep them fit to go on cruises or their holiday abroad, so if you say that you are too old for osteopathy… you are quite mistaken!

If you’d like to book yourself in for a consultation, please don’t hesitate to contact us on 01722 512043.