We are walking every day, everyone walks at a different speed and posture, but if we pay attention to observation, especially some walking changes after people reach old age, sometimes they can also indicate the physical health of the elderly, today's popular science article, to introduce the walking speed of the elderly, walking gait changes, may prompt health problems.
Study: Walking speed, or predictable life expectancy, in older adults
For elderly friends, walking speed may be slower than when they are younger, which is a normal phenomenon of natural aging in the body, but related studies have also shown that the faster people walk, the more they may predict a longer life.
In a Ukh study published in the Journal of the Mayo Clinic, 485,000 middle-aged and elderly people with an average age of 58 years were tracked for 7 years, and the average life expectancy of the relevant population was estimated by regularly collecting walking speed and body mass index data, and the results showed that women and men who walked faster had an average life expectancy of 15 and 22 years longer than women and men who walked slower, respectively.
In another study, the researchers synthesized 9 relevant comprehensive studies, and the results showed that in the elderly, the normal person walked at a speed of 0.9 m/s, while if the walking speed was less than 0.6 m/s, the risk of death increased, and people who walked faster than 1 m/s also had a longer corresponding lifespan.
The "fast walking" mentioned here refers to the situation that the physical fitness is better and the natural speed when walking is faster, in fact, such a conclusion also shows that healthy and strong people tend to walk faster and more steadily, and the slow pace is often related to a variety of health problems of the body. At the same time, researchers also pointed out that if, on the other hand, it is believed that as long as you walk faster, you can live a long life, in the case of physical conditions do not allow, forcing yourself to walk faster, it is impossible to achieve the purpose of prolonging life, therefore, for elderly friends with walking problems, do not try to let yourself go fast because of hearing such studies, and the resulting risk of falls can not be ignored.
There are 4 types of walking abnormalities in the elderly that may also indicate health problems
People to the elderly, not only the speed of walking will change, but also may occur gait, walking posture, walking stride length and other changes, and elderly friends if there are some walking abnormalities, should also pay attention to the possible disease impact, in fact, there are many situations in this regard, today focus on 4 common situations.
1. Limp and slow gait
Claudication and gait delay is a common phenomenon in many elderly people, and there are many health problems related to it, such as common elderly people with osteoarthritis problems, under the influence of moderate and severe arthritis, there will be joint stiffness, continuous pain, causing lameness, while walking speed will also be affected, actively treat osteoarthritis, pay attention to weight loss, reduce joint overactivity and wear, are all noteworthy aspects.
In addition, the cause of claudication may also be leg, foot nerve, muscle damage or lesions, such as diabetic patients long-term blood sugar control is not good, diabetic foot, peripheral neuropathy problems, it is possible to cause intermittent lameness symptoms, but also may accompany pain, ulcers and other problems.
Therefore, for the situation of lameness and slower walking speed, the specific reasons for the lameness and slow walking speed should be analyzed and judged in combination with the specific situation.
2. When walking, the body is tilted to one side
When walking, the body tilts to one side, many people say that this is not simple, cerebral infarction sequelae? In fact, walking to one side of the tilt, is not just a brain infarction so simple, if it is a friend who does not have cerebral infarction problems, the body tilts to one side when walking, or when walking can not walk straight, of course, should consider the possibility of cerebrovascular disease risk, active investigation and control is still necessary.
In addition to the risk of cerebral infarction, the walking posture to some deviations may also be the problem of vertebral cervical spondylosis, this disease problem, in addition to the problem of walking skewed, may also be accompanied by numbness of the lower limbs, heavy weakness, as well as difficulty in lifting, step on the steps and other issues, worthy of special attention. In addition, diseases such as back muscle problems and lumbar disc herniation of the lower limbs may also lead to the body being tilted to one side when walking.
3. Walking unsteadily and falling easily
Some elderly friends, with the increase of age, there will also be problems of walking instability, poor walking balance, easy to fall, and the resulting fracture problems are an important problem that threatens the life and health of the elderly.
The reason why there is a problem of walking instability, usually there is a problem with the body's balance ability, there is a common situation, long-term alcohol drinking people, a large amount of alcohol intake on the cerebellum formation of the impact, resulting in cerebellar function degradation, there will be walking instability. And if there is a brain-related disease problem, such as brain injury, or stroke caused by motor nerve damage, cerebellar health problems, etc., there may be problems with walking instability and easy to fall, therefore, about the situation of walking instability, do not just think that it is caused by aging, from many aspects of comprehensive consideration, actively find the real influencing factors, and actively respond to it can help improve conditioning.
4. The lower limbs are dragged, and the pace becomes smaller and slower
Walking lower limb dragging is also a common situation for many elderly friends to change their walking gait. Some friends think that lower limb dragging is also one of the precursors of stroke, but in fact, this is not a typical symptom of stroke, and the reason why the problem of lower limb dragging is usually due to a sense of weakness, so that it is not strong caused, and the lesions of the brain responsible for movement-related parts may lead to the dragging of the lower limbs.
The most common situation, but also a situation worth vigilance is, if the elderly friends appear to drag the lower limbs, accompanied by smaller steps, slower speed, poor coordination of the upper limbs, and even unable to swing the arm naturally, walking in a forward posture, we must pay attention to the risk of Parkinson's disease, if accompanied by quiet trembling, writing smaller and other symptoms, should be timely medical treatment, these are the typical symptoms of Parkinson's disease, early detection and early intervention is very important and necessary.
The 4 kinds of walking abnormalities introduced above are some common walking posture abnormalities in the elderly, and the summary of possible disease problems is not necessarily comprehensive enough, but if you can observe more carefully, check and control the possible problems in a timely manner, and do more reasonable exercise in daily life, maintain good muscle strength and body balance, for the conditioning of related diseases, control is also very important, we can share what experience for the disease problems indicated by walking changes, Welcome to continue to leave a message below, we can continue to discuss and learn together.