Your elderly family member with osteoporosis may want to try various treatments to protect her health. Osteoporosis is a disease that causes weak and brittle bones. Physical therapy is one that she may want to consider sooner rather than later. Physical therapy at home helps your elderly family member become more active and learn how to move safely.
Improve Strength
Many people with osteoporosis limit their movement and exercise due to fear of damaging their bones. This can lead your senior to a very sedentary lifestyle in which she may not move much. Which can cause her to lose muscle tone much faster than she should. Strength-building exercises help improve strength, and they can also have the added benefit of strengthening bones. Your elderly family member can do all this with the help of her physical therapist, who is there to ensure she’s doing exercises properly and safely.
Improve Mobility
Another area your elderly family member may be experiencing is mobility concerns. As she spends more time being sedentary, it becomes more difficult for your elderly family member to move the way she should move. This can cause serious health issues for her. Balance exercises and other movements that help improve mobility help your senior reduce her risk of falling, which could be disastrous for her with osteoporosis. Working with a physical therapist helps your elderly family member improve her mobility, including balance and fall prevention.
Manage Pain
Learning to manage pain effectively can be another big goal for your senior now that she’s dealing with osteoporosis. Physical therapy can help her find other ways to manage pain, especially if her supporting muscles and ligaments have weakened because she hasn’t been active. Increasing her activity levels safely can make a huge difference for your senior’s pain levels.
Improve Quality of Life
Overall, your elderly family member’s quality of life might have deteriorated after her diagnosis with osteoporosis. She may feel more fearful about life and her health, which can take a toll on her emotionally and mentally. Working with a physical therapist can give your senior tools to become more active in general and improve many areas of her life. That, undoubtedly, improves her quality of life.
Your senior may face many variables as she ages, including osteoporosis and how it impacts her daily life. Working with physical therapists and other healthcare professionals can give your elderly family member a huge array of tools to help her deal with this new phase of her life. Over time, she may find that she feels way more in control of her life, even with osteoporosis.