Aging with Ability exists in order to help older adults improve their health education. Working as a physical therapist for over 5 years I have worked with many older adults up to 103 years old and meeting them where they are at on their health journey and using my rehabilitation knowledge to serve them has been and continues to be a privilege. However, working in our current healthcare system has many challenges as well; paperwork requirements, insurance restrictions, pressure on number of visits per day leads to shortened education sessions and sometimes leaves health goals unexplored.
Physical therapists in particular are well equipped to treat arthritis, post-surgical pain, balance, etc. but sometimes we are unable to fully address holistic health challenges due to limitations. The desire to create an information platform and serve older adults and their families with health education, wellness resources, and exercise advice is how Aging with Ability was created.
5 Main Ways Aging with Ability Can Help You
- Improve health literacy
- Empower you to be more active in your healthcare
- Inform on relevant health topics for your demographic
- Provide education and advice to improve your health
- Introduce you to different health professions and their purposes
1. Improve Health Literacy
I don’t know about you, but when I was growing up in school the amount of health knowledge I gained was minimal. An episode of Magic School Bus about the digestive tract, some discussions on muscles and bones and drinking milk was the extent that I remember. I took upper level biology courses in high school and learned more about DNA but not much more about the human body. I learned more about animal anatomy through dissection then I did human anatomy. Obviously, in college pursuing a physical therapy degree many hours were spent on muscle anatomy and purpose, chemical reactions from neural synapses to ion channels to understand every cell.
Many times during college while memorizing muscle origin and insertion points I wondered at why so little time is spent learning about our own bodies as we grow up. Then, as I progressed and became a clinician and met people that have disease diagnoses they know nothing about, and misconceptions about “bone on bone” arthritis, or that slipped discs in your back are permanent led me to think even further about this lack of knowledge.
We live in our bodies everyday of our whole lives, shouldn’t more people have a better idea of how they work? Answer: I firmly believe we should! And it is never too late to learn.
2. Empower You to be More Active in Your Healthcare
Going along with the first purpose is the second of encouraging active participation in your healthcare team. Understanding how organ systems work, or the exercise recommendations for your age group helps you have better conversations with your doctor and other members of your healthcare team. Aging with Ability is and will continue to grow into a health resource to understand what is important about some common conditions, what resources you can turn to if your are diagnosed with a new condition, how you can prevent falls and the secondary conditions and issues that can arise from a fall. Should you seek out physical or occupational therapy rather than more invasive forms of management for a health condition.
You are your best advocate and being an effective communicator to healthcare professionals you interact with can only improve your quality of care.
3. Inform on Relevant Health Topics for Your Demographic
Aging with Ability exists to be a source of education and information exclusively for older adults, and potentially family or caregivers involved in their care or wellbeing. I have seen many educational resources that are not aimed at older adults. They are either written in technical language to target healthcare providers, or they are resources for larger age groups or other demographics. I took a course in college about older adults and one of the first things taught was that older adults are the most diverse of any age group. It is so true.
We have a general idea of the milestones that babies, children should meet and we also have a very good idea of the health changes that come with aging such as reduced vertebral height, decreased thirst, reduced elasticity of certain tissues; but, there is no given timeline or one size fits all method. This is why you see people in their 80s that are still very active and close to disease free and then others that struggle with health conditions, or lifestyle choices that lead to reduced activity at a much younger age.
The real encouragement is that when it comes to your health it is never too late to start. I have seen this with my own eyes. Little periods of activity, or small changes such as drinking 1-2 cups more water a day can make a big change. Your body is amazing, your brain and the ability of the brain to adapt and learn is amazing and leads to improved health at any age with the right mindset, and commitment.
4. Provide Education and Advice to Improve Your Health
This part needs to be loud and clear and is also on my disclaimer page. Although I am a physical therapist, I am not your personal physical therapist. This means I can present ideas and advice such as hydration, exercise recommendations, home safety advice; but, it is up to you to consult your personal physician or a physical therapist to truly tell whether those are beneficial steps for you. I cannot diagnose, answer personal health questions based on your age and medical history or anything like that unless you live in my state and I am actually treating you and billing your insurance. Aging with Ability is not a personalized rehab plan website nor am I able to offer personal rehab plans through this platform.
I am here to educate, encourage, and advise in a broad sense. I encourage you to work with local resources such as exercise classes, physical therapists, personal trainers or health coaches that are certified in senior fitness to receive more tailored plans for your situation.
5. Introduce You to Different Health Professions and Their Purposes
Last but not least, I have goals for this website/business to someday offer an interview based podcast that would highlight different healthcare providers. Again, referring to my personal experience as a clinician-I usually do not have to explain what a physical therapist does. People usually have a good general idea, although usually more limited then our true scope of practice; but, still an idea that we get people up and moving and make you exercise to be able to do what you want to do again is a good basic start to an evaluation visit.
However, other professions do not have this advantage. Occupational therapists are not only for people that have jobs. They actually help you return to as high of a level of independence with tasks that “occupy your time” daily such as bathing, dressing, cooking, etc. And speech therapists are not just for people with speech issues. They train swallowing, they can work with people on cognitive decline, etc. Those are just two common examples in the rehab realm of healthcare.
So either through blog posts or podcast format I want to debunk some of those myths or misconceptions and introduce healthcare professions so in the future if you need them you may recognize their title and understand the reason for referral a little better.
Conclusion
Aging with Ability is here to help older adults learn more about a variety of healthcare topics from the view of a physical therapist who has spent many hours educating older adults in their home, and in a skilled nursing setting. I am here to educate and advise rather than give individual rehab advice. I hope this is a useful resource and will hopefully grow and provide webinars or courses in the future.
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