How to Help the Elderly with Sore Muscles
Aging is a natural process, and while old age has its charms, it has its drawbacks too. One of the many and most common downsides of old age includes joint and muscle pain. While muscular pain can naturally be associated with old age without any external stimulus, it does not mean that the agonizing pain and unnecessary inconvenience should tolerate every day.
When people transcend into old age, they consistently dismiss their growing pains and muscular soreness, thinking that it’s a part of old age. This habit can not only lead to the severity of their problems but may also cause further systemic diseases. It can significantly affect the quality of their life. Pain in the muscles that persists for a more extended period is known as chronic pains. It consists of discomfort that continues from months to years. Luckily, they don’t have to sit in agony all day. There are plenty of ways in which you can help relieve their symptoms:
Exercise
The results and benefits of physical activities will never disappoint you. From simple walking to spending a few minutes on a vibrating exercise machine can be great for your sore muscles. Full range exercises may prove to be a little tricky when you’re starting, but they’re very beneficial. They allow increased blood flow to your muscles, which makes them heal. Active muscles with soreness heal way quicker than sore muscles at rest. These recovery exercises have the same benefits that spa massages have.
When your soreness is gone, don’t quit. Keep exercising daily, or at least four times a week. It will not only help prevent any aches in your muscles in the future but also make them healthy, making you more energetic.
Stretch or Yoga
Muscle fibers though may seem healthy but can be very delicate. They break away and tear easily in moments of inactivity or when they are put under extreme stress when they aren’t suitable to handle it. It is what makes them sore, and they tend to feel very tight. Not only do they restrict the motion of your body, but they’re also quite painful.
Stretch exercises and yoga aren’t just fancy things the new generation is all about. It’s an art developed over a thousand years and bears many health benefits. For this particular ailment, yoga allows the muscles to stretch. Our muscles can be very tight and contracted all the time, and pulling them is a great way to make them relax. Over time with regular yoga or stretching exercises, the muscle fibers will increase their elasticity and strength, providing you with a full range of motion and no sore muscles.
Get a massage
Your sore muscles are inflamed, which is why they cause you so much pain. The lack of exercise or inelasticity of muscles causes tears in muscular fibers that produce the sensation of pain. Every time our muscles are inflamed, our body cells get to work and try to heal them, but in older people, this process is rather slow. The body with inflamed and sore muscles, when subjected to a massage, decreases the production and accumulation of cytokines that have a critical role to play in inflammation. The massage also helps provide energy for the cells to work harder, faster, and longer to relieve the inflammation naturally. There are plenty of carrier oils one can use for a massage like argan oil, marula oil, sweet almond oil, etc.
It is important to note that getting a massage from a professional is ideal rather than having an amateur do it, or else it might cause more harm than good.
Use Heat
Heat can be a great way of allowing your muscles to heal gradually. It provides momentary relief but with repeated applications, has immediate effects too. A warm shower or pressing the area of pain with a hot water bottle or cloth can help relax your tight muscles.
If someone has to do it on their own, heating pads with automatic switches for on and off, are excellent as compared to the regular ones that may burn the uppermost layer of your skin if left on for too long. Applying heat with just a little bit of pressure for around half an hour after every two to three hours has proven to be very beneficial.
Medication
Many people try and heal their pain with more natural ingredients because the word medication tends to scare them. Medicine, in no way, is a bad thing when your doctor or physician has prescribed you.
There are tons of anti-inflammatory medications available in the market. They come in the form of pills, massage balm, patches, and topical sprays. Most of these contain acetaminophen as the main ingredient that battles inflammation quite effectively to give you relief.
If your loved ones are taking prescription pills for their pain, make sure they take them as directed by their physician.
Epsom Salt
It is an unusual (but valid) entry in the list. Epsom salts consist of magnesium that is crucial for the proper functioning of muscles. These salts, when added to a warm bath (or even a warm compress), can be easily absorbed by the skin and act as a muscle relaxant. Taking magnesium orally for muscular pains is not as effective as this method.
Conclusion
Just because you’re old doesn’t mean you have to be in constant pain. With the help of a few gifts from Mother Nature and healthy exercising habits, you’ll be able to get rid of sore muscles in no time.