As our bodies age, they need extra care to remain healthy and active. Over time, the elderly face chronic pain, and their bodies suffer from infections, illnesses, and physical problems. Apart from health issues, injuries from falls and car accidents also lead to bone issues in the elderly. The recovery process is long and often painful as bodies slow down with age.
Luckily chiropractic care has provided an effective alternative to the elderly to recover from falls and injuries due to accidents. Apart from that, the elderly people suffer from balance and coordination issues due to degenerative changes in the neck area and the impacts of previous injuries.
Studies reveal that chiropractic care could play a key role in restoring decreased coordination by stimulating the joint receptors in the neck. This assists in normalizing joint receptor functioning responsible for balance and coordination. Another study found that seniors who received care treatment for car accident clinic in College Park were more likely to live in their homes than those who did not.
Chiropractic Care for the Elderly
A completely natural method of holistic healthcare, chiropractic care is one of the safest treatment options for people, especially the elderly. 6% of older adults have disabling back pain, and 23% have non-disabling back pain. Many senior patients are seeing a chiropractor in College Park to help with their ongoing health or back issues. Usually, an elderly patient seeks chiropractic care to treat the pain in the muscles, bones, or the lower back.
The reason for that is the use of manual manipulation techniques to align the spinal cord and correct misalignment without using medication. These misalignments can result from having a poor posture, a fall, or injuries from car accidents in College Park. With professional chiropractic care, the spine and the entire body is aligned while restoring the balance.
Now, the family and loved ones of senior patients suffering from spinal and other health issues might be concerned about chiropractic treatment due to the delicate nature of their bones. But you can rest assured that chiropractic doctors have expertise and experience to treat the elderly effectively. They first examine the spine to identify any oddities, such as an out of place vertebrae.
This results in multiple issues that range from pain caused by misalignment to the immune systems due to nerve blockage. An estimated 5% of elderly adults in the U.S. already prefer this therapy, but before choosing this form of treatment for your senior loved ones, you must have the required knowledge and understanding of the treatment to make an informed decision.
Pros
Let’s start with the benefits of the treatment:
Alleviate Pain
Most people prefer to have chiropractic care for manipulation techniques for pain relief. They have the skill to fix any of the subluxations within the spine leading to inflammation and pain without using drugs. With chiropractic care, the root cause of the pain is healed contrary to medicines that just mask the problem instead of healing it completely.
Lower Risk Falls
Every year 33% of seniors fall and suffer injuries. The main cause is physical weakness and poor coordination issues. With chiropractic care, the spine subluxations are greatly reduced, helping senior patients in stretching and learning other balance-improving exercises to build strength.
Boosts Quality of Life
A senior patient can experience an improved quality of life with chiropractic care as it allows them to have a proper range of motion in all extremities. Seniors believe that they are going to become stiffer with age, but this does not have to be true. And chiropractic care helps with that.
Helps Chronic Conditions
With age, elderlies have to experience a wide range of health issues that chiropractic care can help with. In a study of a group of elderlies, suffering from the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a common lung disease, were treated with chiropractic care for four weeks. As a result, the participants faced fewer cough attacks and had a higher quality of life.
Natural Treatment without Medication
Most of the medicines come with side-effects. With 92% of seniors suffering from at least one chronic illness, finding a treatment method that does not involve medicines is nothing but a sigh of relief.
Cons
As with any other treatment, there are certain considerations in chiropractic care as well for the elderly because of their age or health condition. It is not entirely free from risks and some of them have been discussed below:
Soreness
Many patients complain of having soreness after getting chiropractic treatment. This is normal since the chiropractor is aligning your spine and putting things back in place. Although uncomfortable at first, the pain could be unbearable for some patients with a low pain threshold.
Risk of Injury
There are some risks of injury with chiropractic care but other treatment methods are not free from them either. A generalized study found that 30% to 60% of patients suffered from a mild impact due to chiropractic care. This depends on the age as well as the severity of the patient’s condition.
Risk of Bone Damage
Osteoarthritis and osteoporosis are the leading contributors to weak bones in the elderly. They are at higher risk of bone fractures and other bone-related issues. It is recommended to get medical approval first for the chiropractic treatment of an elderly patient.
Risk of Stroke
Neck manipulation is risky. Even though chiropractor has the expertise and training for it, there is a risk of patients getting a stroke when they have their neck manipulated. Although the risk is higher for young adults, the elderly need extra care too.
Final Verdict
Chiropractic care has advantages and risks and both of them need to be considered keeping in view your elderly loved one’s overall health and condition. An ill and frail elderly might not be able to enjoy the benefits of this treatment in the same way as a moderately sick senior would. The best thing to do is to determine if this treatment is safe by getting approval of the personal physician of the senior patient.
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