Do you seriously know what’s at stake?
I'm not sure if it's common knowledge, but I still work periodically as a physical therapist in the hospital.
I interact with people all the time who have genuine difficult difficulty getting out of bed on their own, including many people who can't move well enough (i.e. do not have the physical fitness) to keep on living in their home.
Last Tuesday I worked a full day at the hospital and during my lunch break, the TV in the break room played an infomercial about an adaptive bathtub. The commercial opened with, "a nursing home costs $110,000 a year". They were making the argument that this bathtub can keep you living in your own home longer, and when you compare the costs of an $8k bathtub with $110k of nursing home fees, the math is pretty easy. That bathtub is probably helpful for a lot of people.
But do you want to know what can save you the $110,000 annual cost of living in a nursing home?
Maintaining your physical fitness. And appreciating the qualities that you need to maintain if you are going to do so.
- You need to stay STRONG. But time left on its own will NOT make you stronger, my friend. Not in any way, shape, or form.
The responsibility is on you to go and combat this natural progression toward weakness that we experience as we age.
I want you to know that you CAN negate it.
There are two major factors that lead to people falling and breaking their hips in older adulthood. One is a loss of bone density, which makes the hip susceptible to fracture. The other is the loss of the ability to quickly respond to a loss of balance; to be able to take a quick step to catch yourself when you're thrown off balance. So:
- Maintain your ability to move quickly! It won't take you very much time!
- Maintain your bone density! Bones respond to STRONG muscle contractions.
So to maintain your bone density, perform actions that either lead to:
1. Quickly accelerating
2. Moving heavy amounts of weight
and hopefully this blog gives you the insight as to why it's advantageous to do both.
IN SUMMARY:
Seek to meet the physical activity guidelines:
- 150-300 min/week of moderate-intensity cardio
- 2 days/week of strength training to hit all major muscle groups.
Your strength training needs to be RELATIVELY HEAVY.
Keep it simple. All major muscle groups can be hit with 4 compound movements per week:
1. Squat
2. Hinge
3. Push
4. Pull
And start out your strength session with jumping 20-40x (it might take 5 extra minutes).
But it can change the trajectory of your life if you stick with it. I'm not exaggerating.
What if we had barbells in nursing homes? People might not need to stay there.
Are you interested in some guidance in getting started on preventing ever needing to live in a nursing home?
Email me at glenn@fitkinrehab.com with the subject line “NO NURSING HOME” and we can chat.
Glenn
