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?

As our population ages, the importance of specialized healthcare for older adults, including senior chiropractic care and chiropractic for elderly patients, becomes increasingly vital. Chiropractic care, known for its holistic approach, plays a crucial role in improving the quality of life for the older adult population, especially those struggling with musculoskeletal problems.

At Smerglia Chiropractic, we use senior chiropractic care to improve the quality of life for elders in the community. “We’re helping treat the older population, trying to get them to feel better,” explains Dr. Kyle Smerglia.

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:

1. Alleviates pain
2. Increases balance and coordination
3. Improves range of motion
4. Reduces wear and tear on joints
5. 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

Many older patients suffer from chronic pain conditions, such as chronic low back pain, neck pain, and joint pain, often due to joint degeneration and osteoarthritic pain. Chiropractic adjustments, particularly spinal manipulative therapy, have shown remarkable efficacy in providing pain relief and improving physical function. These adjustments help in alleviating health concerns associated with pain and improve spinal health, contributing significantly to pain management.

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

Conditions like poor balance and poor posture are common in the older adult population. For example, pain from degeneration and inflamed joints (which are common in elderly patients) can cause you to walk differently than usual, affecting your posture as you adjust your stance to alleviate the discomfort. Chiropractors can support fall prevention, a critical concern for seniors, by improving balance and posture through targeted therapies.

“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.

This is usually done through a combination of spinal adjustments and exercise therapy.

3. They Can Improve Range of Motion

A significant benefit of chiropractic care for elderly patients is the improved range of motion, particularly in the spine and joints. As we age, our joints can become stiff and less flexible, leading to limitations in movement and impacting daily activities. Regular chiropractic adjustments, tailored to the needs of older adults, can significantly enhance joint flexibility and mobility.

This improvement in range of motion not only helps in reducing pain and discomfort associated with musculoskeletal conditions but also plays a crucial role in maintaining and improving the overall physical function. With an increased range of motion, older patients often find it easier to engage in physical activities, which are essential for maintaining strength, balance, and a healthy lifestyle.

This aspect of chiropractic care is vital in helping seniors maintain their independence and enjoy a higher quality of life with fewer physical limitations.

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. This approach is particularly beneficial in senior chiropractic care, where the focus is often on alleviating the symptoms of joint degeneration and chronic pain in older patients. By improving joint function through chiropractic adjustments, we can enhance the distribution of weight across these regions, leading to a more balanced and efficient musculoskeletal system.

This is especially important in chiropractic for elderly patients, as it directly addresses issues like arthritis and chronic low back pain, common in the older adult population. Staying on top of these issues with regular chiropractic adjustments not only helps in managing pain but also can slow down the progression of wear and tear on joints. This proactive approach to health care helps in maintaining improved spinal health and overall physical function, ensuring that older adult patients can continue to enjoy their daily activities with reduced discomfort and enhanced mobility.

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.

The Bottom Line

For elderly patients, regular chiropractic adjustments can be a cornerstone in maintaining overall well and alleviating . These adjustments aid in correcting spinal misalignments, enhancing nerve communication, and ensuring the musculoskeletal system functions optimally. This is particularly important for older adults, as it can help in maintaining independence and performing everyday tasks with ease.

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!