Boomeritis discussion at Q Jan 2007
Discuss how to get exercise
while RVing, avoid stress,
which supplements and superfoods to eat,
breathe clean air while RVing, books on longevity ,web sites . . .
To Avoid Boomeritis Exercise, Exercise, Exercise
By JANE E. BRODY NY Times December 19, 2006
An apology
to all baby boomers and beyond: I’m afraid that in our efforts to get everyone
to become physically active, we’ve sold you a bill of goods. A 30-minute walk
on most days is just not enough. There is much more to becoming — and
staying — physically fit as you age than engaging in regular aerobic activity.
(Of course, the same applies to those younger than 60.)
In addition
to activities like walking, jogging, cycling and swimming that promote
endurance, cardiovascular health and weight control, there is a dire need for
exercises that improve posture and increase strength, flexibility and balance.
These exercises can greatly reduce the risk of injuries from sports and
endurance activities, the demands of daily life, falls and other accidents.
Musculoskeletal injuries are now the No. 1 one reason for seeking medical care
in the United States. And falls, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
reported last month, have become the leading
cause of injury deaths for men and women
65 and older.
Unless you
do something to slow the deterioration in muscle, bone strength and agility that
naturally accompanies aging, you will become a prime candidate for what Dr.
Nicholas A. DiNubile, an orthopedic surgeon at the Hospital of the University of
Pennsylvania, calls “boomeritis.”
“By their
40th birthday, people often have vulnerabilities — weak links — and as the first
generation that is trying to stay active in droves, baby boomers are pushing
their frames to the breakpoint,” Dr. DiNubile said in introducing a November
press event in New York sponsored by the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons
and the National Athletic Trainers’ Association.
“Baby
boomers are falling apart — developing tendinitis, bursitis, arthritis and
‘fix-me-itis,’ the idea that modern medicine can fix anything,” he said. “It’s
much better to prevent things than to have to try to fix them.”
Dr. DiNubile
pointed out that evolution had not kept up with the doubling of the human life
span in the last 100 years. To counter the inevitable declines with age,
we have to provide our bodies with an extended
warranty.
Assess
Your Fitness
In their
recently published book, “Age-Defying Fitness” (Peachtree Publishers), two
prominent physical therapists, Marilyn Moffat of New York University and Carole
B. Lewis of Washington, D.C., provide the ingredients to help you make the most
of your body for the rest of your life: a quick quiz and a five-part test to
assess the status of your posture, strength, balance, flexibility and endurance,
followed by five chapters with step-by-step instructions on how to safely
improve the areas in which you are lacking.
The
therapists describe what happens to these “five domains of fitness” as you age.
Posture begins changing as early as the teenage years, the result of activities
like prolonged sitting, carrying a heavy purse or briefcase, or working at a
computer.
Strength
declines as muscle fibers decrease in size and number and as the supply of nerve
stimulation and energy to the muscles diminishes. Balance deteriorates as
muscles tighten and weaken and joints lose their full range of motion.
Flexibility
declines because connective tissue throughout the body becomes less elastic. And
endurance falls off because of reduced flexibility, weakened muscles, and
stiffer lungs and blood vessels.
Still not
convinced you need to work on your fitness? See how you do on the therapists’
quiz:
Are you not standing as straight and
tall as you once did?
Is walking up a flight of stairs a
strain at times?
Are you getting up from a chair more
slowly than you used to?
Is it getting harder to look to the left
and right while backing up?
Do you get stiff sitting through a long
movie?
Is standing on one leg to put on your
shoe difficult or impossible?
Do you trip or lose your balance more
easily?
Does walking or jogging a distance take
longer than it used to?
As a daily
exerciser I consider myself a physically fit 65-year-old, and I did well on the
quick quiz, but I flunked the tests for balance and flexibility. So I’ve added
exercises to my weekly regime to improve these two domains of fitness.
“The
antidote to aging is activity,” the therapists wrote. “Inactivity magnifies
age-related changes, but action maintains and increases your abilities in all
five domains.”
No Time to
Waste
Dr. Vonda J.
Wright, a sports medicine specialist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical
Center, said at the New York meeting that “boomers are 59, and we must intervene
now to head off what happens to those who age in a sedentary way.”
Injury and
arthritis are the main reasons people stop exercising, she said. She urged those
in need of a joint replacement not to
postpone the surgery, which she likened to
repairing a pothole.
Marjorie J.
Albohm, a certified athletic trainer affiliated with OrthoIndy and the Indiana
Orthopedic Hospital in Indianapolis, cautioned against “cookbook recipes” for
exercise. “The key to a good workout is customization,” based on a professional
assessment of flexibility, cardiovascular endurance, strength and balance, she
said. “The goal is to minimize symptoms and prevent new injuries,” Ms. Albohm
said, and she urged people to listen to their bodies to avoid making things
worse.
Ms. Albohm
emphasized flexibility, saying it
is “not optional” as you age. “To
prevent stiffness and maintain joint mobility you should stretch daily for 15 to
20 minutes,” she said “using slow, controlled movements, before or after your
exercise program.”
For
cardiovascular endurance, she recommended alternating between weight-bearing
(walking, jogging) and non-weight-bearing (swimming, cycling) aerobic activities
three days a week for 30 to 45 minutes each time.
Muscle
strength, Ms. Albohm noted, can be increased at any age, even in one’s 90s, to
protect against falls, maintain mobility, prevent new injuries and empower
individuals. Especially important is strengthening the muscles in the front and
sides of the thighs, which help support the knees, and strengthening core
muscles of the trunk (back, buttocks and abdomen) to protect the spine and
support the entire body.
Finally, we
need to worry about our bones. At least 1.5 million “fragility fractures” occur
annually in the United States. These are breaks that result when someone falls
from a standing height or less, trips over the cat or lifts something heavy, and
they affect men as well as women, Dr. Laura Tosi, an orthopedic surgeon at
Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., said at the New York
event.
“A history
of a fragility fracture is far more predictive of future fractures than a bone
density test,” Dr. Tosi said, adding that a major cause is a shortage of vitamin
D, which lets calcium into bones.
“The current
standard for vitamin D is not adequate,” she said, and predicted it would soon
be raised to perhaps 1,000 International Units a day. Vitamin supplements are
crucial, because adequate amounts of vitamin D cannot be absorbed through diet
and sunshine alone.
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