Prime Time - Jane Fonda [39]
Every year, one in three people over sixty-five fall. As I have already said, this can lead to potentially crippling fractures, even fatalities. The reason we fall more as we age is that we are more likely to lose our sense of equilibrium. Actually, like muscle loss, balance loss is natural and begins very gradually, as early as in our twenties. As we age, various physiological changes in the inner ear, the bottoms of our feet, and our eyesight challenge our sense of balance. More important, we process these signals more slowly and less accurately than when we were younger. I’m not sure which of these (or maybe it’s all of them) is the culprit in my case, but balance is definitely my Achilles’ heel. One reason I try to keep my muscles strong is to compensate for this.
I also do exercises specifically designed to improve my balance. Whenever I can, like when I am brushing my teeth or hair or waiting in a line, I practice standing on one foot. At home, to challenge myself even more, I do the one-legged stand with my eyes closed. Once a day, I walk for a dozen or so steps, placing one foot directly in front of the other, as though I’m walking a plank. Balance can be developed just as muscles and aerobic capacity can.
Certain medicines and combinations of medicines can make you dizzy. If you find yourself having trouble with balance, have your doctor or pharmacist take a look at all your medicines (including any over-the-counter ones) to see if that could be a contributing factor.
Physical therapist Karen Perz offers a useful tip: “When someone is off balance, it’s better for them to hold on to you, rather than for you to hold on to them … and you should offer your elbow, not your hand.”8
Yoga and tai chi, a Chinese martial art where you do a series of slow, flowing, standing movements, are excellent for developing balance. So are core training and Pilates, which more and more gyms are offering. In core training you do exercises while standing on various surfaces that wobble. In addition to stimulating adaptations in the balance centers of the central nervous system, these exercises deliberately create instability, which recruits the smaller, stabilizing muscles, such as the gluteus medius, in the hip; the vastus medialis oblique, in the knee; and some of the small muscles in the back and the shoulders that aren’t normally challenged. My Prime Time Workout also includes exercises to improve your balance.
Physical Therapy
I woke up one morning unable to lift my right arm above breast height. A physical therapist explained that sleeping on my side had aggravated an already-existing rotator cuff problem, and the injury required six months of manual therapy. After that, my back went into spasm, which reminded me of what my friend Bette Davis said: “Aging isn’t for sissies.”
Chiropractic therapy, if done by a qualified practitioner, can provide quick relief through joint manipulation; it’s a lifesaver for many people. But with a trained and talented therapist, physical therapy can get to the underlying causes of your problems by deeply working the muscular, skeletal, and nervous systems. The therapist uses her or his hands and arms to apply sustained pressure where the muscles have become hard and claylike, as opposed to springy. This makes the knot relax and increases circulation to the area. Very often, the knot is caused by a lack of mobility in the joints and/or the related muscles, tendons, and ligaments, which is why the therapist works on all the systems.
In searching for your own manual therapist, what you want to look for are the letters OCS (orthopedic clinical specialist) or SCS (sports clinical specialist) following the person’s name. Or you can visit the American Physical Therapy Association website at www.apta.org.