As we age our bodies go into decline, if we are smart though we will prepare for it with making appropriate lifestyle choices. Even if you have pushed your luck with drinking, smoking and not exercising you can improve on what’s left if you really want to. Whenever I say this to one of my massage clients I always think about a former businessman and client “T”. T retired at 60 overweight, flabby and short of breath from years of long boozy lunches and no exercise at all. Rather than carry on his self destructive path into retirement he got fit, very fit, much to the amazement of his friends he created a physique many 20 year olds would like to have.

What you need is a plan, even if you have been very fit in the past the same activity now may injure you, this is what T did. As cartilage wears down, our joints can’t absorb shock like they used too, even worse if you have had a cartilage injury that has never been that good since. Our joints don’t bend and straighten as they should when the adjacent muscle, ligament and tendon have weaknesses and have scar tissue also .

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common musculo-skeletal condition which affects about 8% of the population over 55,  polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) affects people in the 50-70 year age group, adhesive capsulitis (Frozen Shoulder) affects people in 45-55 demographic, rheumatoid arthritis usually starts in the 40-60 year age group and osteoporosis is most often diagnosed in the 50+ age group. This is far from a definitive list of all the painful things that can slow you down and make you groan when you get out of bed of a morning and even a fit person can suffer from them but fit people recover faster and better.

The body requires some mild impact activity to help maintain bone density but high impact can cause you problems. This might be the difference between walking and running or between running on the road or on grass.

Massage and Self Massage, like good exercise are things we need increasing amounts of as we age if we wish to remain able bodied.

I worked in a nursing home for about 15 months and it left quite an impression on me, all those stiff bodies taking short shuffling steps. We think of this as normal because it is so common but it isn’t. I have personally known elderly people who are still flexible, energetic and mobile, they are not common but they do exist and are living proof that taking care of yourself does make a difference.

Part of the problem is that many health professionals only get to see old people who are sick, they never get to see the healthy ones. This creates negative expectations about aging, that sickness and weakness are synonymous with getting old. A person can be healthy and old for a long time before they decline, if everyone else gives up on you it is tempting to give up on yourself too….please don’t.

If your joints and muscles are getting stiffer please investigate the possible ways others can help you and you can help yourself. Think about what you love doing most and what you have to do to keep participating. Try some Self Massage.