Why Your Mobility Worsens As You Age, and What to Do About It

流动性是生活中的关键之一 - 让您起身，四处走动并做自己想要的一切（没有痛苦）。但这也恰好是这些年来可能会下降的东西。

幸运的是，这是您比您想象的更多的控制权。为什么？因为机动性损失实际上与变化的身体无关，而与改变生活方式有关。

我们不仅注定要脆弱，因为如果我们愿意保持活跃并将健康作为优先事项，我们会长大。保持活跃和健康的生活方式是您现在和将来的自我所能做的最好的事情之一。

In its simplest terms, mobility is how you move. More specifically, it's how well your关节通过他们的全部运动，Sabrena Jo，CPT, senior director of science and research at the American Council on Exercise (ACE), tells LIVESTRONG.com.

能够通过其运动范围进行关节的价值（例如，延伸和弯曲肘部或脚踝），它支持您自由移动或轻松行走或行走的能力。根据国家老龄研究所（nia）。

在现实生活中看起来像什么？例子包括伸手进入橱柜（肩膀），上下楼梯（脚踝），然后弯曲以从地板上捡起东西（臀部和膝盖），Joe Castelli, DPT，S.P.O.R.T.的创始人纽约市的理疗和健康告诉Livestrong.com。

NIA的说法，加时赛的流动性不足转化为独立性较小，跌倒，疾病，功能丧失甚至死亡的风险更大。如果没有良好的关节流动性，您也可能会感到僵硬和疼痛，参与活动或日常任务将变得更加困难。失去移动性可能会大大阻碍您的生活质量。

Fortunately, improving your range of motion can decrease pain, anxiety, depression and improve the ability to do day-to-day activities and personal-care routines, per an August 2017 study inPLOS ONE。

The bottom line: Preserving and knowing how to regain mobility are critical for healthy aging. And it's never too late to start.

一些移动性损失只是变老的一部分。乔说：“衰老的自然后果是胶原蛋白的崩溃，胶原蛋白是一种容纳水的结构，为关节提供了流体和柔软性。”这使关节更难访问其全部运动范围。

同样，随着年龄的增长，根据一项研究Annals of Medicine2019年3月。肌肉减少症, or age-related muscle loss, can also contribute.

但是，就年龄的变化而言，仅此而已。（您可以争辩说，与年龄有关的肌肉损失并不能保证您保持活跃。）

联合运动随着年龄的增长而下降的最大原因是由于我们的习惯。想想：如果您不使用它，就会丢失它。另外，随着时间的流逝，重复的动作会受到根深蒂固。

一个经典的例子？在键盘上打字。乔解释说，打字会缩短前胸部的肌肉。如果您还弯腰向前（一种常见的desk姿势），那么您的背部肌肉过度伸展。

"Over the years, if you don't do anything to counteract that habitual activity, the muscles on one side of a joint become chronically shortened and the muscles on the opposite side become chronically lengthened," she says.

例如，即使您不在桌子上，您仍然可能会因这种不平衡而在世界上四处走动，从而导致移动性丧失。危险在于，这可能会导致关节的磨损，长期会导致慢性疼痛。

Finally, if you're not physically active, you're not conditioning your joints to move through their full intended range of motions. This can also cause loss of mobility in older adults, Jo says.

就目前而言，根据2018年9月的一项研究柳叶刀全球健康of nearly two million people. (Sufficient physical activity was defined as at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity per week.)

"We are not doomed to frailty just because we grow older if we are willing to stay active and make wellness a priority," saysMichelle Rogers, CPT, a certified personal trainer and senior fitness specialist. "Remaining active and living a healthy lifestyle is one of the best things you can do for your present and future self."

Here are the habits that experts want you to stick with:

尽力在一天中建立活动。乔说：“如果您继续前进，您可以抵消由于老化而导致的一些移动性损失。”这并不意味着要训练马拉松或出汗的水桶进行高强度的间隔锻炼（尽管可以！）。

明白：在2021年2月JAMA网络开放研究，与那些活动较少的人相比，参与最大数量的每日体育活动（步行，园艺甚至干燥菜肴）的年轻人在六年内出现流动性问题的可能性降低了40％，高达40％。

罗杰斯说：“最简单，最佳的练习之一就是步行。这是一个很好的起点。”

安排每日散步，然后选择最有可能实现它的时间（例如，在您的一天中或晚餐后弹出的早晨，您知道可以花点时间）。罗杰斯说，小小的开始，并最多要进行更长的课程，直到每天达到30分钟。在您没有时间散步的日子里，只需尽力而为。每一点都很重要。

很高兴找到自己喜欢的锻炼，但是每天进行完全相同的练习并不是关节流动性的理想选择。在一周中的不同日子里，运动会议看起来更好。（不用担心，您可以 - 应该 - 每周重复您的锻炼。）

"A combination of activities — likestrength training，骑自行车，跑步和瑜伽 - 将以所有可能的方式移动关节。”乔说。

For instance, she says, if you make all of your workouts cycling ones, you will move joints in a single position, which can cause your hips, back and chest to become tight and achy. You can decrease that risk by opening up the front of your body through strength and yoga.

"If you keep a varied schedule of activities to move your body in different ways, you don't have to worry that much about mobility loss," says Jo.

If you have a desk job, then you're probably spending long periods of time sedentary at your desk. And you might be able to relate to the sensation of getting up after sitting for a while to feel tight and achy.

"One of the ways we can counteract that is to move often," Jo says. If you're at a desk job, that can look like standing up on your feet and/or walking once an hour for five minutes, she recommends.

您越早开始这个习惯越好，但是永远不会太晚。对于老年人，根据高级健身测试评估，每天休息更多的人（包括从坐着到站立）更有可能具有更好的身体功能。老年学期刊：A系列。

Standing up to interrupt time spent sitting engages large skeletal muscles and, when consistently performed throughout the day, activates thousands of muscular contractions, the researchers note. Standing up more — no matter your age — is important even if you've done a workout that day.

Stretching that target your shoulders, spine, hips, calves can battle chronic stiffness that plays into mobility losses in older adults, says Jo. Stretching — both with static (bend and hold) stretches as well as dynamic (flowly) ones — is a great opportunity to move your joints in ways they otherwise might not all too regularly.

许多瑜伽乔说，锻炼还包括灵活性和移动性组件。

However you decide to bend and stretch, focus on challenging yourself — but always without pain. Pushing too hard into stretches can damage your joints and contribute to injury. The goal is to feel a gentle, pleasant stretch in your muscles. If something doesn't feel good, listen to your body and pull back a bit or avoid that stretch altogether.