HUDSON, Fla. – A Florida spine doctor is offering a solution to keep elderly people moving after a University of Colorado study showed that energy expenditure is the reason we move more slowly as we age.
According to the study, it costs older people more energy to complete the same tasks that they would have completed with ease in their younger years.
Dr. Alfred Bonati, the founder of the Bonati Spine Institute in Hudson, explained why that’s the case and what can be done to help elderly people expend less energy while completing day-to-day tasks.
Over the course of our lives, our spines suffer from mini traumatic injuries when we twist them the wrong way, overwork them, or simply from normal activities, according to Dr. Bonati.
Over the years, a condition called Spinal Stenosis sets in. With Spinal Stenosis, the spinal cord itself or the nerve roots become compressed as they exit the spinal column. This prevents the nerves from functioning properly and therefore the muscles that they serve cannot function properly.
According to Dr. Bonati, this is what limits mobility, causing us to expend more energy as we age.
“Our brains are sending the correct messages to our muscles, but the commands are interrupted by the compressed nerves in our spinal canals,” said Dr. Bonati. “We lose agility in our movement because our nerves are not communicating well with our muscles anymore. To compensate for the impaired muscle groups diminished functionality, we engage alternative muscle groups which exhausts more energy.
However, there is a simple solution to what Dr. Bonati calls the pathology of aging.
“If we want to regain our mobility and agility, and expend less energy as we move, all we have to do is let our brains communicate with our muscles again,” said Dr. Bonati. “And how do we do that? We simply relieve the pressure the nerves are putting on our spinal cord. We do it every day to patients who have chronic back and neck pain.”
Dr. Bonati said elderly people do not have to resign themselves to a sedentary lifestyle.
“It really is a simple fix,” he said. “If you are not as mobile as you would like to be at your age, a procedure to release the pressure on your spine could greatly benefit you. It should be minimally invasive, almost painless and well worth it so you can continue to live an active lifestyle.”
About The Bonati Spine Institute:
For nearly 40 years, The Bonati Spine Institute, led by Dr. Alfred O. Bonati, has provided world class surgical treatment to patients suffering from spine pain. Dr. Bonati and his team of highly trained specialists have successfully performed nearly 80,000 patented procedures, helping patients with spine pathologies. While the Bonati Spine Institute is located in the Tampa Bay area, patients from all over the world have sought Dr. Bonati’s care, often after other doctors tried and failed to relieve their pain. Of those patients seen, 65 percent have had a history of failed back surgery prior to coming to the Bonati Spine Institute. The Bonati Spine Institute has received a patient-reported satisfaction rate of higher than 98 percent.
Date: May 14, 2024
Media Contact: Peter D’Abrosca
Tel: 813.279.8335
Cell: 720.639.0066
Email: peter.dabrosca@judgepr.com