The Impact of Aging on Muscles
By Sara Butler
As you age your body will go through many changes. One of the things many chiropractors want to emphasize with their patients is how important it is to take care of your body as you age in order to keep you mobile and independent. One of the things impacted the most by aging is your muscles. Here’s how chiropractic can help you to keep your muscles healthy, flexible and strong as you age.
How Aging Impacts Your Muscles
As you age your muscles lose strength and mass. The aging process has three main ways it impacts your muscles:
- The number of muscle fibers reduces – As you age, the amount of muscle you have decreases. This is due to the fact that your body produces less muscle tissue, and the muscles you do have shrink in size.
- Tissue does not renew itself as fast – When you’re young your tissues renew quite fast, but as you age your muscles don’t regenerate as fast as they used to. This is what reduces the strength and mass of your muscles as you age.
- Muscles don’t respond as well to strength training – Your nervous system also undergoes changes as you age, leading to a drop in the response of your muscles to exercise. Your muscles may not be getting the right signals from your aging nervous system.
These things are a natural part of the aging process and something you can’t avoid as you get older, but there are ways to delay this progression.
How Chiropractic Can Help
Don’t let this information get you down! The reality is muscle weakness doesn’t have to be a part of the aging process for you. When you see your chiropractor they can help to keep your spine in alignment, which then helps your nervous system to function at its best. Being in proper alignment also allows for your joints to have an increased range of motion, helping them to be more flexible and also reduce pain – all of which contributes to better muscle health as you get older.
Instead of focusing on muscle mass as you age you should instead concentrate on your flexibility and range of motion, since improving both of those areas will reduce your chance of injury and make you steadier on your feet. Plus, when the range of motion is restored in your joints, it is easier for your body to maintain muscle tone and encourage the growth of new muscle.
You can fight back against aging! Discuss your flexibility, range of motion and muscle tone with your chiropractor during your next visit to The Joint Chiropractic!