DisabilityMobility.com

If like many people in the Western world you're carrying a few extra pounds, this added weight, according to a new study, may potentially increases your risk for physical disabilities later in life.

This finding is as the result of a new study from Sticht Center on Aging at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. It is worth recognizing that the elderly population in the United States is increasing all the time (expected to be about 20% of the adult population by 2030), therefore problems with mobility may well be a major concern for all of us.

The study, appears in the April 15, 2009 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.

The research is based on data collected in the Health, Aging and Body Composition study and the subjects were recruited between April 1997 and June 1998.

To be included in the research the participants had to be functioning well and healthy - free of any life threatening conditions. There were a total of 2,845 subjects, who were an average age of 74-years old.

"In both men and women, being overweight or obese put them at greater risk of developing mobility limitations in old age, and the longer they had been overweight or obese, the greater the risk," stated lead investigator Denise Houston.

Houston is an expert on aging and nutrition and an assistant professor of gerontology at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

For purposes of this research, mobility was explained as not being able to walk a quarter mile, or climb ten steps.

None of the participants had any of these issues at the beginning of the study. Any new mobility issues were reported during twice yearly follow up for the 7 years of the study.

Using the participants body mass index (BMI) at different age intervals, the study found that a woman who were overweight from her mid-20s to her 70s was close to three times more likely to have mobility issues than women who maintained a healthy weight.

Men's risk was just a little bit less - They were about 1.6 times more likely to develop mobility problems.

What's more, the research discovered that women who were obese (BMI of 30) at age 50, but had reduced their BMI by their 70s, were still 2.7 times more likely to have mobility issues when compared to women who were not obese at any time.

For men under the same circumstances, the risk was 1.8 times greater for mobility problems than men who'd never been obese.

Your doctor will tell you that increased weight puts strain on your joints, keeps you from exercising as much and can be a contributory factor to chronic conditions like heart disease, arthritis or diabetes - All of which been directly linked with limitations in mobility.

If you're thinking you have plenty of time to drop the extra weight the research found that this may not be the case.

Often weight loss later in life is involuntary, usually the result of some underlying medical condition, after years of extra weight have done their worst to your joints, and lack of exercise has your body weak and wobbly.

To give yourself the best chance being mobile into your golden years, your best bet is lose the extra weight now, and get active so that you keep your joints health, muscles strong and improve overall health.

Next - just head on over to the Daily Health Bulletin for more information on obestity health problems and mobility, plus for a limited time get 5 free fantastic health reports. Click here for more details on this obesity health and mobility study.

The electric wheelchair is the greatest contribution from Canada to the entire world. In 1950, Dr. George Johann Klein developed this wonderful creation to make a revolution in the medical field. It was very useful at the time of Second World War and it helped to save many lives. Now different types of wheelchairs are available in the market. But all of them are derived from the old wheelchair which was invented several decades ago.

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