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Suggest Treatment For Walking Difficulty In An Elderly Person
Question: Hi
My grandma is nearly 80 years old. She has sugar and blood pressure problems for around last 7 years but becoz of medications they are under control and she has managed it very well.
She is very fit otherwise and active as well. But she find difficult to walk, although she walks daily and also goes to park but she finds her legs very weak.
Can we do anything to give strength to her legs daily by any natural and non natural products. I mean as a laymen we don't know what will be good for providing strength to her body so that she can carry on these physical activities on a regular basis. Please suggest like as a family person what all things do you advice to your older family members.
Please provide some alternatives whether in a form of foods keeping in mind her sugar and bp or whether in form of any medical supplement that must not have any ill effect or side effects.
If you are not the correct person or you think specialist can answer it more thoroughly Please suggest me the appropriate specialist whom should I ask this.
Thanks
My grandma is nearly 80 years old. She has sugar and blood pressure problems for around last 7 years but becoz of medications they are under control and she has managed it very well.
She is very fit otherwise and active as well. But she find difficult to walk, although she walks daily and also goes to park but she finds her legs very weak.
Can we do anything to give strength to her legs daily by any natural and non natural products. I mean as a laymen we don't know what will be good for providing strength to her body so that she can carry on these physical activities on a regular basis. Please suggest like as a family person what all things do you advice to your older family members.
Please provide some alternatives whether in a form of foods keeping in mind her sugar and bp or whether in form of any medical supplement that must not have any ill effect or side effects.
If you are not the correct person or you think specialist can answer it more thoroughly Please suggest me the appropriate specialist whom should I ask this.
Thanks
Brief Answer:
Follow the Advises...
Detailed Answer:
Hello XXXXXXX Welcome to HealthcareMagic,
I've gone through your query and understand your concern for your grandmother,
Well, first of all, it's good to know that she's doing well, fit and active at such age..at the age of nearly 80yrs, the overall body metabolism slows down and degenerative process sets in which affects all the bodily systems, so being physically active is extremely important...
Good to know that her BP and blood sugar is under control on medications as both these diseases affect the overall body systems on both acute as well as chronic phases...
In my opinion, for the overall weakness, it's better to get done a complete Metabolic profile (including a CBC, peripheral blood smear, serum Electrolytes, Kidney, Thyroid, and Liver function analysis along with Vit-D3, Folate, and B12 levels)..these are the most common areas where deficiencies are detected in day to day practice..Management will be with proper supplementation as per the findings...
You haven't mentioned anything about pain/swelling in the legs, so I'm assuming there's no pain as such in her legs, in that case, a routine Physiotherapy session should be started for limb strengthening, muscle toning, and power training (it's done by trained physiotherapists on daily basis at home only).. this is a gradual and very successful process and will be really beneficial for her long-term wellbeing..
As such if she's eating adequately, if there's no recent weight-loss, then you won't need to worry too much on that front..just make sure a good eating regimen, eating in time, never to skip breakfast, eating in moderate portions and avoid all forms of junk/processed foods, maintaining a good hydration status by drinking enough water throughout the day, having a lot of fresh green vegetables, salads, and fruits, avoid extra salt in diet, these should be fine..
I've made it as simple as possible for you to understand, let me know if there are any further doubts..
As per your last query regarding the specialist, please note that there's an 'Ask A Specialist' option in this Forum, you can choose it anytime and select the relevant specialists as per your query (currently you've posted this query in 'Ask A Doctor')..
Let me know if I can assist you further.
Take Care
Kind Regards
Follow the Advises...
Detailed Answer:
Hello XXXXXXX Welcome to HealthcareMagic,
I've gone through your query and understand your concern for your grandmother,
Well, first of all, it's good to know that she's doing well, fit and active at such age..at the age of nearly 80yrs, the overall body metabolism slows down and degenerative process sets in which affects all the bodily systems, so being physically active is extremely important...
Good to know that her BP and blood sugar is under control on medications as both these diseases affect the overall body systems on both acute as well as chronic phases...
In my opinion, for the overall weakness, it's better to get done a complete Metabolic profile (including a CBC, peripheral blood smear, serum Electrolytes, Kidney, Thyroid, and Liver function analysis along with Vit-D3, Folate, and B12 levels)..these are the most common areas where deficiencies are detected in day to day practice..Management will be with proper supplementation as per the findings...
You haven't mentioned anything about pain/swelling in the legs, so I'm assuming there's no pain as such in her legs, in that case, a routine Physiotherapy session should be started for limb strengthening, muscle toning, and power training (it's done by trained physiotherapists on daily basis at home only).. this is a gradual and very successful process and will be really beneficial for her long-term wellbeing..
As such if she's eating adequately, if there's no recent weight-loss, then you won't need to worry too much on that front..just make sure a good eating regimen, eating in time, never to skip breakfast, eating in moderate portions and avoid all forms of junk/processed foods, maintaining a good hydration status by drinking enough water throughout the day, having a lot of fresh green vegetables, salads, and fruits, avoid extra salt in diet, these should be fine..
I've made it as simple as possible for you to understand, let me know if there are any further doubts..
As per your last query regarding the specialist, please note that there's an 'Ask A Specialist' option in this Forum, you can choose it anytime and select the relevant specialists as per your query (currently you've posted this query in 'Ask A Doctor')..
Let me know if I can assist you further.
Take Care
Kind Regards
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Arnab Banerjee
Answered by
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