Dealing with Physical Weak Spots as You Age

As you head into your 50’s, your mind seems to be stuck in your 30’s, generating frustration about the realities of aging bodies and aches and pains that seem to come out of nowhere. 

You likely set your goals for activity based on what activities you like and enjoy. You might feel like that has to change, but it doesn’t mean you have to stop what you enjoy.

Conditioning an aging body requires nutrients and awareness of the weak areas in your body. These may be places you injured when you were younger or tissue such as your knee or spine that is not as strong as it used to be. 

For some of my patients, I feel a bubble wrap feeling in their muscles. This is muscle that is not as strong as it should be and has small ischemic spots (where the muscle hardens into a little knot without good blood flow). For these patients I use acupuncture, light therapy, and massage to break things up, and I advise using no weight or light weight. 

You see the answer as you age is not to do as much as you want to and not to do nothing!

Common Weak Spots in Aging Adults

An issue I see often in aging is swelling around the lumbar vertebrae and sacrum. I often say to patients that you cannot see your own back. Swelling around bones is BAD.  It means the body is struggling to have strong stable bones. 

More and more people have osteopenia or osteoporosis, which is often diagnosed with a DEXA scan. More and more frequently you have to remind your doctor or remind yourself how important these preventative tests are to prevent developing problems. 

I often put patients on a tablespoon of organic beef gelatin from the baking aisle at Natural Grocer’s. Gelatin is an essence tonic in Chinese Medicine. It helps to plump up disc space and keep your spine strong. 

I also often remind patients to ask to have vitamin D levels checked at their doctor’s office. Vitamin D is frequently too low in modern diets, and it affects your entire body including your muscles, bones, immune system, nervous system, and more. This is something I look for when coming up with my patient’s health plan, and you can get started on yours by coming in for a free consultation.

Some patients need herbal formulas that strengthen the bone. For my women, I often address hormones, since there are estrogen receptors in the bones. I practice natural functional medicine where I use herbs and supplements to support the body to heal where disease is present. This makes me a good provider for women who cannot take HRT due to estrogen dependent cancers or do not tolerate HRT.   

Another weak spot that is extremely common in modern patients is weak tendons. This is again due to soil depletion and a changing diet. The missing nutrient is manganese, which like vitamin D, affects a wide range of your body’s systems.

Broad malnutrition can become normal, using disease labels for the way you’re feeling and drug solutions like a band aid. In reality, you need to correct the malnourishment or poor diet to feel better. 

No one nutrient does it all. Your body is a chemical plant, pulling apart what you put in it to make new chemical reactions. I believe this includes HRT, peptides, vitamin IV’s, and every other shortcut we come up with to feel better now instead of fixing the root of the problem – our farming, our soil, and our lifestyles where stress demands too much of some nutrients. 

What You Need to do Next

Keep an eye on your weak spots and condition your body for the activity you love. I often help my patients heal with acupuncture and continue treatment until they are doing what they love again without pain.   

Your 50’s is a perfect age to reinvent yourself and set yourself up to feel great in your 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. My goal for healthy aging is quality of life, where you have activities you love and can do. It’s being able to get off the floor. It’s being able to reach your toenails for a trim. You might take these things for granted now, but future you will be so grateful for the work you do now.

Once you hit 50, you might get so scared of aging that you push too hard without having enough nutrients to repair microdamage from workouts. The general daily health pack from Standard Process is one of my favorite recommendations for my male patients who need a little bit of everything.   

For my females, I shake their hands and say we are going to be together for a while.  Women are like the fancy car that needs the expensive mechanic. Your hormones impact so many of your tissues. Stress levels and childbearing can leave you very vulnerable as you age. For many women, health anxiety is very real, and you might tend to struggle with creating some space for yourself as your hormones shift. 

If you slow down and put your body first by inserting gentle exercise, more veggies, and stress relief that allows your body to be first, you can move into your 60’s strong, active, and feeling good in your body!!

I see patients of all ages and specialize in complex problems and always consider hormones in my work with men, women, and even children as their hormones come in. Let me help you age smoothly, gracefully, and without pain. A free consultation is a great place to start.