By Dr. Ira Shapiro
Are you increasingly more uncertain about your footing?
Is it becoming harder to negotiate cramped, tight spaces?
Quite simply, are you tripping and stumbling more often?
If so, you’re not alone. Balance declines with age. Alarmingly, this process begins for most in their 20s.
Here’s a quick test. Try to stand on one leg for 60 seconds. Recent studies have found that many 30- or 40-somethings come close. But, it’s downhill from there. The average 50-year-old can do it for about 45 seconds. For people in their 60s, it goes down to 40, and for those in their 70s, it’s only around 27 seconds.
Not a big deal? Think again. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly one-third of adults over 65 fall each year. While most are not seriously injured, 700,000 people land in the hospital annually due to falls. Common injuries include hip fractures, brain trauma, sprains and fractures. In 2009, more than 20,000 people were killed in falls. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons has even found that 9 percent of people who suffer hip fractures die within 30 days.
The reasons are many. Unfortunately, age is not kind to those who sit more and exercise less. The ability to move upright is determined by a complex combination of muscle strength, visual cues and our balance center, which is controlled by the inner ear and affects our ability to detect our position in space. As we age, these cells die off, limiting the brain’s corrective actions to avoid falls. Other factors include arthritis, high blood pressure and any number of other aches and ailments.
But, there are things we can all do to improve our center of gravity, the ability to move safely through space and time. Sometimes called the sixth sense, proprioception is determined by the brain’s ability to transmit and receive signals from sensory receptors in muscles, tendons and joints, while constructing an overall sense of the body’s position.
For more information, please contact the Plaza Chiropractic Center at 732-723-0023 or visit www.plazachiro.com.
