The Osteopath and Patients of Different Age Groups - Essay Example

Section/# The Osteopath and Patients of Different Age Groups For the osteopath, even when dealing with patients that experience the same or similar issues, the approach can be widely divergent depending upon patient age. This is true for a number of reasons which will be enumerated upon within this brief essay. For purposes of this paper, the two patients which will be considered can be denoted as a 25 year old male who actively runs and a 75 year old mostly sedentary grandmother. As a function of understanding the nuanced approaches that the osteopath should take with patients of different backgrounds, activity levels, and age groups, this paper will approach the issue from a differentiated perspective that attempts to provide the reader with a firm grasp of why a differentiated approach will help to both understand and treat the patients that have thus far been described. The runner may be more acutely sensitive to pain and/or discomfort due to the fact that he may not be accustomed to many of the aches and pains that an older patient must deal with on a daily basis (Thorpe et al 2011, p. 217). As such, the younger patient may be more able to sense even the slightest discomfort that he may experience during the course of daily activities (Weaver et al 2012, p. 240). Moreover, the osteopath would need to be acutely aware of the fact that due to the activity level and overall bone density that the active exerciser would engender, the osteopathic needs and treatments would therefore greatly vary from those that would be required by a more elderly patient with a much lower activity level (Tenta et al 2011, p. 343). Furthermore, any type of physical therapy that may be required would need to take into account that the youthful and healthy 25 year old would require far less healing time with regards to any issue that they would require treatment of than would a more elderly patient would require (Michalek et al 2011, p. 33). Likewise, the 75 year old patient will be more of a challenge for the osteopath due to the fact that she will likely not have a higher pain threshold than will the 25 year old. As such, it may be difficult for the osteopath to determine overall bone health as a function of her needs (Harris et al 2012, p. 118). Furthermore, the effects of having a rather sedentary lifestyle, not punctuated by regular physical exercise, will take a toll on the health and density of her bones as they will be more likely to be far less dense and brittle than those of the 25 year old runner (Krejović 2012, p. 42). Likewise, due to the fact that the patient in question is a female, the loss of bone density could be further compounded by osteoporosis and/or other factors that are compounded in women over the age of 40 (Takeda et al 2012, p. 312). Whereas the younger patient will experience issues if an injury occurs, the older patient can and will experience issues that are directly related to aging without sustaining any injuries (Cheung et al 2012, p. 566). These can be manifested through a litany of mechanisms and can include demineralization and/or a stiffening of the joints, changes to the soft tissues connecting the bones of the skeletal system, a general atrophication of the muscles that join the bones to the muscles and ligaments throughout the body, changes to bone density, and a litany of arthritic conditions that can serve to further weaken already weak muscle and skeletal systems (Ahmadieh et al 2011, p. 586). For these reasons, the osteopath needs to be uniquely aware of the means by which the aging process manifests itself within the patient. Moreover, the needs of the elderly patient far outweigh those that have been enumerated upon within such a brief summary (Young-Shin et al 2012, p. 5). Due to the fact that bone health and density is on a decline since the early 20’s, the osteopath must be acutely aware of this fact and work to provide a regime and care plan that will be beneficial and mindful of the unique needs that such a patient will necessarily espouse (Sanhi et al 2010, p. 433). Furthermore, as the 25 year old runner will not likely be experiencing these issues, the osteopath should be mindful of the fact that it will be easy to miss and or incorrectly diagnose some key issues that exist within the patient due to the fact that certain factors are not expected as a function of age (Bauer et al 2012, p. 2425). Likewise, it should not be assumed that merely because the grandmother is of an elderly age that she will necessarily be experiencing degenerative conditions with her bone health; however, although the osteopath cannot assume these things, he/she should be mindful of them as key determinants that help to offer an overarching rubric of dealing with patients such as the ones that have been briefly analyzed within this case study (Caporaso et al 2011, p. 560). Whereas some key determinants regarding bone health and the overall outlook for a patient can be determined as a function of age, the individual lifestyle and activity level as well as genetic and environmental factors present also have a large part to play in the way that an osteopath chooses to engage a patient’s health (OShaughnessy et al 2012, p. 34). In this way, although the preceding analysis can help identify some key factors relating to bone health and the role that an osteopath might engage such patients with, the fact of the matter is that a firm and discernible baseline should be established with each and every patient prior to any type of stereotypes or broad based determinations based on age, gender, activity level or other key determinants being made. Regardless of the fact that a broad majority of the patients that fall into the categories that have been enumerated upon above share the same attributes, it is the responsibility of the professional to ensure that the patient’s unique factors are adequately represented. References Ahmadieh, H, & Arabi, A 2011, Vitamins and bone health: beyond calcium and vitamin D, Nutrition Reviews, 69, 10, pp. 584-598, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 8 December 2012. 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Young-Shin, L, Baek, J, Kyeongra, Y, & Saunjoo, Y 2012, Relationships Between Physical Activity and Awareness and Treatment Status Among Adults With Low Femoral Bone Density in the United States, American Journal Of Health Promotion, 27, 1, pp. 2-9, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 8 December 2012. Read More