I have had many senior citizen clients who have had heart surgeries (even an artificial heart!) and with asthma or other breathing problems.  We have been privileged to serve clients in their 90′s.

Every massage therapist is different.  Ask friends and relatives for their recommendations.  If someone you know has been happy with their therapist, there is a good chance you will be, too.

What does massage do?

Massage boosts your immune system.  That means that regular massage will help improve your health.  By “regular” it could be every week or every few weeks or even once a month.

If you have trouble breathing or asthma, having massage on the muscles in your back and the front of your chest and shoulders will help relax the muscles that have become tight from difficulty breathing.

Massage feels good.  It helps your muscles normalize.  Massage acts as exercise (but you don’t get the the aerobic benefits, of course.)

You may wish to have a general all-over massage because that improves circulation all over your body.  Your therapist could also focus on areas where you have aches and pains.

There are many types of massage and a good massage therapist will ask you questions about your health and any health problems before they begin to treat you.  You can tell your therapist how much pressure you prefer.  You can also let them know where you would like them to work.

Have a conversation with your therapist.  He or she wants you to feel better.

I would suggest starting out with a medium pressure general massage if you are in generally good health.  If the pressure seems too much ask the therapist to lighten the pressure.  If it seems not enough, you can ask for more pressure.  It’s your massage and your body so you always get to make those important decisions and share them with your therapist.

A good therapist will work WITH you not just ON you.

You can tell when the pressure is right if it feels right.  If it feels too uncomfortable or inappropriate, the therapist is working too deeply for you at this time OR in the “wrong” area for your complaint.

If you go to the Categories on the right hand side of the page here, and scroll down to the Massage Category, you will find an article about how to find a massage therapist who can help you.  Just ask the questions that apply to your situation.

I applaud you for considering massage as an important part of your good health.  Therapeutic massage has tons of benefits for older folks and senior citizens.

I don’t know where my friend Rosalie got that clever title, but it’s a serious problem, and lots and lots of us are affected by it!  The Sitting Disease is caused by…too much sitting!

All that sitting causes lots of muscle and body malfunctions and aches and pains and premature aging.

Knots in your back, problems breathing, constipation, carpal tunnel syndrome, osteoporosis, back pain and headaches and MORE are caused by “The Sitting Disease.”

It’s practically an epidemic!  But there is a simple, natural cure.  Read “The Sitting Disease” and get started on your road to recovery.

Why do some of us grow old so quickly and other stay youthful?

Here are 3 reasons:

1.  Attitude.  Optimists may not always have the most realistic outlook, but they live longer, healthier lives than pessimists and enjoy living more.  Attitude can be learned and unlearned.  A healthy attitude includes gratitude and happiness.

2. Nutrition.  People who give their bodies all the nutrients it needs are much more likely to be healthy and feel better longer.  This gets harder and harder as more of our “food” comes from factories rather than farms and gardens, but it CAN be done.  The best place to buy your groceries is in the produce section, and if possible, the best ones to buy are organic.  Try to eat a lot of different colored foods (and Froot Loops don’t count.)

3.  Posture.  When you lose the fight to gravity, and gravity is winning, your heavy head moves in front of your body.  Then, gravity can pull you forward even more!  Your posture can be corrected, at least enough to relieve some of your pain.  Posture is a BIG key in aging.  When you collapse forward, your organs gets squashed.  How can your heart function its’ best when it is being compressed?  How can your intestines and stomach do their best job?  This is a common cause of constipation.   You can overcome poor posture by stretching the muscles in the front of your body and strengthening the muscles in the back.

George Burns, the comedian, said:  “It’s okay to get older, as long as you don’t get old.”  I’m sticking with George!

What are some of the benefits of senior citizens exercising and doing movements to get a straighter, stronger back?

• You will have less back pain.
• It will be easier to breathe.
• There will be less pressure on your internal organs so they can function better (heart, etc.)
• You will feel better about yourself because you will be straighter and taller.
• You will have less pain in your neck, arms and hands.
• You’ll have less constipation. (Increased movement helps your bowels move.  Straighter posture takes compression off your intestines so they have more space to move.)
• Your blood and lymph circulation will improve.
• Your strength will improve.
• And, your balance will be better, and that’s really important!

If you go to SimpleStrengthening.com you will find lots of articles that I wrote which explain both why people have pain and how simple strengthening movements, that you can do in bed, are done.

You can see there are many benefits for you, as a senior citizen, to exercise, move and get a straighter, stronger back.  And that’s a good thing

“Because You Deserve to Feel Better!”

All of our lives we make choices. More than we would like to make. So many!

Some of our choices have been excellent, and some, well…maybe not so good. But we keep on going.

Jerry L. Old MD is a geriatric physician. I figure, with a name like that, how could he be anything else? But, he didn’t intend to be a doctor with an elderly patient practice. It just worked out that way.

I loved reading his really cool book called Vintage People. Vintage People are elderly people who have aged well. Dr. Old calls them vintage because they are like fine wine. They are people who have become better over time.

Do they have aches and pains? Lots of them do. It’s kind of hard to get older without something twinging somewhere at least occasionally.

Have they made choices? You bet. Were they all good choices? Not necessarily, but they kept on going, correcting the course as they went.

Dr. Old interviewed his vintage patients. Every one of them responded! In many areas, there was no common agreement. For instance, eating habits. They were all over the place! Some people ate very healthy, some not, some ate a very specific diet. But, they had all made choices and they all had opinions about why their eating habits were the best for them.

I found that I kept smiling as I read. Dr. Old told lots of interesting stories, good stories. He shared his own opinions and sometimes tells a joke on himself, too. His chapters cover such things as attitude, humor, religion, marriage. Often these are the words of his wise, vintage patients. You can imagine them talking directly to you.

Choosing to read a good book like this, or any good book that engages your mind, and that makes you smile or laugh is good medicine!

Laughing is like having a massage from the inside out. It creates feel-good hormones. It boosts our immune system!

Compare that to watching the evening news. Do you suppose that boosts your immune system? Did you realize that you can choose to watch the evening news…or not? Even when I had a television, I did not watch the news. I read the Sunday paper selectively, starting with the funnies. I prefer the local newspaper to the big city paper because the local news has good news, not just argumentive, depressing stuff.

Back to the Vintage People. Vintage people are active, as much as they are able. They are young for their age. They have friends of all ages, and even regard acquaintances as friends. They enjoy little pleasures, like the sunset or a flower brushed with dew, sparkling like diamonds. They find ways to help themselves feel better.

When we become absorbed with something beautiful or interesting, we forget about the aches and pain. Sometimes we forget about a great deal of pain. And, often, when we forget to focus on pain, it actually goes away.

My father lived in Missouri. We hadn’t seen him in a few years. So, when we were traveling through Missouri, we decided to surprise him. His wife knew we were coming, but he had a migraine. When we walked in the door, my dad was laying in a recliner with a cold cloth over his eyes.

He was so surprised and pleased that we were there, that in about ten minutes he realized that his migraine headache was gone! We altered his vascular system.

Will your migraine or pain go complete away if you have a pleasant surprise? Maybe, or maybe not. But, when we focus on something other than the pain, often the pain does lessen or go completely away.

And sometimes pain goes away when we focus on it. Does that seem to be a contradiction?

Let’s use head pain as an example. Sometimes it feels as if our whole head hurts. It’s killing us. Where is the pain? Everywhere! It hurts all over.

But what if we pay attention to the pain? What if we direct all of our attention to the pain? Is it here? There? Where is it, really? You may even find that there are very specific areas where it hurts the most. When you pay attention to them, you may even find that the specific areas move. They are not constant. There is some ebb and flow. The most painful area changes location.

So, it’s not your whole head, after all.

What if you breath into the pain? Does that change anything? What if you tilt your chin up, or down? What if you take deep breaths, moving your whole chest?

Paying attention is a choice. Breathing into the pain is a choice. Changing position to see if that helps is another choice. Focusing on something other than our pain is also a choice.

In my mind, there is nothing like a migraine headache. Not only does it hurt really bad, it reduces your ability to think. It reduces your ability to interact with others. It can strip away days of your life.

If migraines or bad headaches are a problem for you, there are choices you can make. No one but you can help you. Try the little suggestions above.

Pay attention to your posture. Not only does poor posture cause head pain, it causes us to be old before our time and to look old.

Watch your diet. Do certain foods cause your head to hurt? Do you still eat them? Why?

The more you understand about why you hurt, the more choices you can make to feel better.

We can choose to be Vintage People. Active, happy, healthy.

We can choose well.