Entering Your Later Years... What Is Your Quality of Life Going Look Like? - The Physio Revolution

Entering Your Later Years… What Is Your Quality of Life Going Look Like?

Brooke Olsen |

Are you worried about losing out on the best moments of your life… Not being able to take those retirement beach vacations and walk in the sand with your partner? Are you going to have to spend another summer indoors while everyone else is outside?

Are you worried about the prospect of not being able to do the things you love when you’ve worked so hard to get to a point in your life where you get to enjoy them finally …

Now you may not be in a great deal of pain right now, but if you are starting to worry about those things, I’m glad you’re here because we help people just like you every day.

If you are concerned about the quality of your life as you enter your later years, you aren’t alone. For many, it’s difficult to go to the mirror and see this “older” person looking back at you. Even worse, feel like you’ve aged by slowing down and not able to keep up with those loved ones around you… You may have even been told or feel that you are slowing down. 

My concern is… what will the next 2-3 years look like if you do nothing about this?

Here’s why and here’s the problem:

For many, the frustration is, ultimately early in life you begin to take your eye off the ball – figuratively. Your time is spent devoted to your children, your family, your job, your next promotion, working hard and putting majority of your time & energy into the things that are necessary to grow you, take care of your loved ones, and grow your assets for a dream retirement in the future.

Once many get to a point of thinking about using that retirement… it’s often you’ve neglected your body to a certain extent that you have more aches & pains than you know what to do with. Earlier in life, your time was devoted to life’s busyness.  Then, without even noticing it, you began to think about you getting older. You look in the mirror and see yourself differently and get to a point of not really noticing who that person is looking back at you. 

You wake up with achier joints, stiff movements, need extra time to put socks & shoes on, take a few more steps before you loosen up the knees, hear those pops and cracks happen as you first move, and it’s just that act of getting by at the time. Nothing really hurts necessarily. Things are just changing. 

Many of us think of ourselves as being “strong” without even doing much for our body. It’s like we just “naturally stay fit and healthy” during in our 20’s and 30’s. 

Then a certain time period hits in your life – for most the 40’s & 50’s are the prime time when people start to “notice their age”.  More people tell me they don’t heal as quickly. They feel they aren’t as flexible. They start to remove some of the things they used to do from their regimen like running or hiking because of the “impact” it’s had on their joints over the years. 

Previously, these feelings of aches & stiffness weren’t even visible back in the day and because of that, people take their eye off of the ball. Over time, these things become irritating and frustrating and many think “this is just what I have to live with”.  Which is not true. It’s not because of your age or your job or the pounding you did while running previously.  It’s because you’ve taken your eye off the ball. You neglected the fact that your body wants to remain strong, flexible, balanced and at an equilibrium with the proper amounts of strengthening, cardio exercise, sleep, stress management, and food you fuel your body with.

These things all balance out our system and help us remain more pain-free, mobile, independent as we age. With a proper program and knowing how to get out of the aches & pains, we get to think about our retirement in a full picture that includes actually walking on the beach without pain… traveling to Italy to navigate the Cique Terres and walk along the coast… climb the 14er you’ve been dreaming of getting up to… or even just spending those summer days with your kids and grandkids out at the BBQ in the park on the holiday you have off. 

A year or 2 into this process, and this is just what I noticed personally, it becomes a hamster wheel. The stiffness becomes worse, you being to worry about your tightness and aches. You become more frustrated noticing your balance has changed, your ability to walk further for longer is limited, your strength and ability to recover changes from doing what used to be simple projects or activities around the house.

“You have less energy and find yourself not knowing where to even start or go to help start the journey back to feeling better.“

Ultimately, it becomes something like a “bad hip” or a “bad back” that takes you into the doctor’s office and you find out you have X,Y,Z diagnosis … could be degenerative disc disease, arthritis, stenosis, facet degeneration, etc. Then the cascade of ideas begin to flood in.

The point I’m making is – just because you’ve taken your eye off the ball thus far – doesn’t mean we can’t turn your head and get your eye back on the ball to help combat these frustrations.

You may not be in a lot of pain – you may have just had previous bouts of injuries and want to know how to combat them from worsening or ruining a family vacation in the future.

We have many people who come in to the clinic and aren’t in pain. They just want to know what they can do to help themselves and lessen the risk of sustaining anything getting in the way of them having a nice relaxing summer or beach vacation in the future.

What everybody needs is a system to get your eye back on the ball – get back into understanding where the biggest concerns are – focus there and build back the strength, flexibility, mobility, balance and motor control that helps you stay on your feet for longer, walk further distances without having to stop, make that thought about running actually come true once again…

“If you keep doing the same thing, you’re going to keep getting the same result. If you keep your eye off the ball, you’ll continue to turn an eye from what is really happening to you.“

When we work together, we talk through where to start, what’s going on in your body that’s holding you back, what’s the biggest focus and bang for your effort, and much more to give you the best possible chance and making your retirement years ahead of you the best years that you’ve worked so hard to enjoy one day… not putting yourself into a system of the continuous cycle in & out of hospitals, injuries, and combating poor health.

Most of the stuff out there only addresses pain or after surgery care. Whereas, we want to assure you get the best out of yourself NOW to combat those challenges that happen to so many other people.

As a society, we act like this is normal or it’s routine.. You get old, frail, and you fall, break a hip, go into a nursing home, and suffer there for the rest of your later years. It doesn’t mean your life has to follow this pattern that you’ve seen others deal with. That’s what this program is about and ultimately the problems that we solve. 

To wrap it up – if you are thinking about joining us – we are take on 5 new people per month in a program like this. If you are ready to put your eye back on the ball – we’re ready to help you.

Getting Help

We know not everyone is ready to commit to regular physical therapy appointments, and that’s why we offer free Discovery Sessions out of our practice in Denver, CO! All you have to do is fill out this brief form here and we’ll contact you. Discovery Sessions are a great opportunity to talk with a specialist about creating the best plan to get you healthy and feeling your best – without any obligation or commitment.

Brooke Olsen

Brooke Olsen

Co-Founder, Director of Physical Therapy
Brooke is a physical therapist, director of physical therapy, and co-founder at The Physio Revolution. She has worked with professional athletes from Olympic level and recreational weekend warriors to others who are in need of regaining their independence and mobility back in their everyday life. Brooke works extensively with all of the PT’s and spends a vast amount of her time ensuring our treatment plans keep pace with the rapid advancements that make physical therapy so effective and such a ‘go-to’ profession for people aged 45+.
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