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Tips for Helping Your Parent Keep Their Bones Stronger

Elderly Care in Nazareth PA: Bone health is an important consideration for everyone, but the older that your aging parent gets, the more likely that they are to experience a serious injury that could result in lasting damage to their bones.

Elderly Care in Nazareth PA

Bone health is an important consideration for everyone, but the older that your aging parent gets, the more likely that they are to experience a serious injury that could result in lasting damage to their bones. Millions of elderly adults end up in the hospital each year due to falls, and a large percentage of these suffer from serious fractures. These injuries can cause long-lasting negative consequences for your senior, including diminished mobility, reduced physical functioning, and mental and emotional health consequences. Particularly for hip fractures, suffering such injuries can actually decrease your parent’s life expectancy. Helping them to keep their bones strong is an important part of maintaining their health and wellbeing as they get older.

 

Use these tips to help keep your aging parent’s bones stronger as they age:

  • Give them a healthy diet. What your senior eats makes a tremendous impact on the health of their entire body, and that includes their bones. When planning and preparing your parent’s meals, focus on getting them the calcium and vitamin D their bones need to grow, thrive, and repair themselves. Green leafy vegetables and dairy products are both good sources of these nutrients.
  • Avoid carbonation. Consumption of carbonated beverages has been shown to increase the risk of bones breaking down and becoming weak. Cutting out sugary sodas can also further benefit your parent’s body by reducing their calorie intake and reducing the chances that they will experience diminished appetite caused by the beverages.
  • Keep them active. Inactivity causes all areas of the body to break down, and bones are no exception. If your aging parent lives a largely sedentary life, they are putting their bones at serious risk. Reduce this risk by encouraging them to get up, get out, and get active. All types of activity are good for bone health, but resistance activities are especially beneficial. Weight-bearing exercise puts additional strain on the bones just as it does the muscles, helping them to stay stronger and more resilient.

 

If you are concerned about your aging parent’s health and want to take a meaningful step to encourage them to live a healthier, more active, and more fulfilling lifestyle as they age in place, now may be the ideal time for you to consider elderly care for them. An elderly home care services provider can be with your aging parent on a customized schedule that works for your senior’s needs as well as your care efforts so that your parent always gets the care, support, encouragement, and assistance that they need to manage their needs, challenges, limitations, and risks in the way that is best for them. This helps your parent to stay safe, healthy, comfortable, and happy while maintaining more independence throughout their later years. It can also give you greater peace of mind that whether you are with them or not, your parent is getting the best care and most attentive support for them as an individual.

 

If you are considering elderly care in Nazareth, PA, contact the caring staff at Extended Family Care of Allentown. Call today at (610) 200-6097.

Sources:

http://www.cdc.gov/homeandrecreationalsafety/falls/adultfalls.html

http://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/nutrition-world-2/bone-strength

Stephen Sternbach

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