Aging baby boomers are increasingly seeking services and advice of physical therapists as they endure injuries that indicate they no longer are as resistant to injury as they once believed themselves to be, according to The Associated Press.
Injuries that are minor – or even seem minor – can quickly turn more serious if disregarded, neglected or underestimated. People aged 45 to 64 have increasingly had knee-replacement surgery during recent years.
Fifty-eight-year-old Haralee Weintraub of Oregon endured repeated back injuries, the first time two years ago during a gym class while doing push-ups and the second time months later while attempting leg squats. Doctors diagnosed the ailment as sciatica while a physical therapist instructed her to fortify the midsection muscles in the front and rear and to work her posterior's gluteal muscles.
"If you wait too long, sometimes you actually just end up delaying your overall recovery" as well as boosting expenses and costs of medical treatment, according to Nathan Sels, who is Weintraub's physical therapist.
People with physical therapy jobs help patients enhance mobility, flexion and range of motion, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.