Updated on June 21, 2022 by Dr. Kyle Smerglia
Living a long and healthy life is a dream of most people on this planet, but the complications of an aging body can make living life more challenging in your later years.
Senior chiropractic care aims to improve the quality of life of elderly individuals. Through treatments like chiropractic adjustments, cupping, corrective exercises, and massage therapy, we’ll help you feel and move better than you have in years. At Smerglia Chiropractic, we help older patients in the Cuyahoga Falls, OH, area get relief from the pains they struggle with every day.
What Is Senior Chiropractic Care?
At Smerglia Chiropractic, we use senior chiropractic care to improve the lives of elders in the community. “We’re helping treat the older population, trying to get them to feel better,” explains Dr. Kyle Smerglia. The difference between senior and regular chiropractic care is that your chiropractor will take more time to learn the history of your health conditions to ensure that the treatment they use is safe.
As a senior, Dr. Smergia says, you “might have had more surgeries, more health complications, other issues that might make your treatment a little bit different” than treatment for younger individuals. At Smerglia Chiropractic, our goals for senior chiropractic care include:
- Minimize aches and pains
- Treat underlying issues
- Manage symptoms
- Improve body function
Chiropractic care can treat many of the ailments that cause you to suffer daily. The treatment and pain relief help restore your body’s function so you can do the things you enjoy with the people you love.
Is It Safe for Seniors to See a Chiropractor?
Dr. Smerglia encourages seniors to see their chiropractors. “If the chiropractor is doing what they’re supposed to do during the consultation, doing the exam, figuring out what the underlying conditions are and how they’re going to treat that patient, it is very safe for senior citizens to get chiropractic care,” he says.
In your first appointment at Smerglia Chiropractic, our team will learn the details of your medical history and conduct a comprehensive physical exam to determine the state of your joints, bones, and other areas of your body. The treatment we decide on depends on your health, history of surgeries, and underlying conditions.
Although our practice sees many elderly individuals with arthritis, we are cautious with inflamed joints. Seniors shouldn’t receive chiropractic treatment for certain conditions, such as:
- Active inflammation
- Fused spine
- Osteoporosis
However, Dr. Smerglia can use chiropractic treatment in the surrounding areas to reduce pain. An inflamed joint might cause pain symptoms in other parts of your body that are safe for treatment. Helping those symptoms can make you feel better overall.While chiropractic care does not cure arthritis, studies have shown its effectiveness in treating the symptoms of osteoarthritis. After 12 weeks of chiropractic treatment, a 70-year-old woman with osteoarthritis and other disabling physical conditions can gain a better range of motion, balance, and gait speed.
Why Should Seniors Consider Chiropractic Treatment?
Senior chiropractic care helps reduce chronic pain associated with conditions common with age. Chiropractors can help you achieve and maintain a healthy lifestyle despite arthritis and other health issues. To increase your daily activity level and improve your quality of life, chiropractic treatment usually accomplishes the following:
- Alleviates pain
- Increases balance and coordination
- Improves range of motion
- Reduces wear and tear on joints
- Betters overall health of the body
Five Ways Senior Citizens Can Stay Active With Regular Chiropractic Care
We’ve just explained some ways that senior chiropractic care will help you stay active, and the common theme so far is dealing with pain. Joint pain can severely affect your daily activity; it keeps you from regular exercise, causes poor balance, and makes it hard to move around. If that pain goes away, you’ll have a much easier time staying active.
Let’s take a closer look at the five ways our chiropractic treatments can improve your daily life.
1. They Can Alleviate Pain
According to Dr. Smerglia, “When patients, like senior citizens, have arthritis and degeneration, things like that, there are things we can do to make sure that the body’s functioning optimally.” Dr. Smerlia will choose an effective treatment for alleviating your pain, whether spinal manipulation therapy, cupping, or another technique.
The goal is to improve your body’s function and reduce symptoms to make the pain go away. Our chiropractic team will identify problem areas and do whatever we can to eliminate your suffering.
2. They Can Increase Balance and Coordination
Pain from degeneration and inflamed joints can cause you to walk differently than usual, affecting your posture as you adjust your stance to alleviate the discomfort. “Eliminating that pain – that irritation – [and] getting rid of any kind of restrictions that could be bothering you is going to help with that balance and coordination,” Dr. Smerglia notes.
At Smerglia Chiropractic, we can help restore your body’s function so that you can move without having to limp or compensate for pain. We strive to get our patients to a condition where they can get up and walk without a second thought.
3. They Can Improve Range of Motion
Tight muscles prevent you from raising your arms, rotating your shoulders, or taking wide steps when walking. Chiropractic care can give you a full range of motion by “loosening those muscles up so they’re not tugging, pulling, and causing restricted motion in those regions,” Dr. Smerglia explains.”
4. They Can Reduce Wear and Tear on Joints
During your treatment, we’ll pinpoint pressure areas that cause degeneration and pain and loosen the muscles to improve function. When things are functioning properly, you’ll distribute the weight into those regions appropriately. Staying on top of these issues can slow down the worsening symptoms of conditions like arthritis without having to treat them directly.
5. They Can Better Your Overall Health
Senior chiropractic treatments can improve your overall mental and physical health, but one of the most significant benefits is how they can affect your sleep. “When you’re not hurting, you’re probably gonna be sleeping better, [as] your body’s able to recharge and regenerate,” Dr. Smerglia emphasizes. Our chiropractic techniques can help you wake up every day feeling refreshed.
Chiropractic care also helps with processes like digestion, heart rate, and blood pressure. “As we’re adjusting and working on the spine, we can influence the nervous system, which is going to affect all the organs and how they’re functioning in the body,” the well-known Ohio chiropractor notes.
Our expert team at Smerglia Chiropractic will do everything possible to get your body into better shape, allowing you to stay active and healthy even as you get older.
Start Your Journey Toward Your Best Senior Life Today
Despite what your body tells you, you don’t have to give up on being active in old age. At Smerglia Chiropractic in Cuyahoga Falls, OH, we strive to achieve the best patient outcome with our personally-tailored treatments. We’ll help eliminate pain and get you back to feeling confident on your feet.
Call us at 330-928-2000 to schedule an appointment for senior chiropractic care today!
