We are living longer and, if you play your cards right and have taken care of yourself, this is a wonderful thing. Good genes certainly help, but healthy lifestyle practices are just as important in continuing to live a productive life. Here are some tips the American Chiropractic Association recommends for aging with grace and health:

Managing the stress in your life — and most of us experience stress to one degree or another — is essential to keeping a healthy lifestyle. Stress comes from many directions and makes itself known in a variety of ways. It might manifest as a headache, tight muscles, nausea or back pain.

Walking may be, pound for pound, the most accessible, beneficial and inexpensive form of exercise available. The American Chiropractic Association recommends it as a way to stay fit.

‘Frozen shoulder’ is a term sometimes used loosely in connection with any type of persistent shoulder pain. But specifically it is the loss of arm movement at the shoulder joint.

The shoulder is the part of the body that is the third most common subject for chiropractic treatment, the lower back and the neck being the two most common. Frozen shoulder can be brought on by the trauma of a fall or car accident, or it may come on gradually as a result of muscle imbalance, overuse and irritation.

As with many forms of health care, people will sometimes ask: If I’m feeling good, why do I need it? In terms of chiropractic treatment, one answer could be, “Are you feeling the best you could be? Are you reaching maximum capacity?”

You don’t have to be a professional athlete to benefit from the regular care of a chiropractor. But even if you are just a weekend warrior on the tennis court, softball field, or golf course, you should know that professional athletes make chiropractic treatment a regular part of their training and care. National Football league and Major league Baseball teams have long kept doctors of chiropractic on their medical staffs. And individual athletes as diverse as golfers, tennis players and rodeo riders get regular chiropractic treatment to hone their performances. The U.S.

You don’t have to be an ironworker to be at risk for back injury on your job. Every occupation, however physically undemanding it may seem, carries the potential for back injury. Even office work can pose problems. A physically intense job might put a person at greater risk for a serious accident, but the sedentary practice of sitting at a desk all day brings its own set of physical concerns.

Only a licensed chiropractor — a doctor of chiropractic, or DC — should perform chiropractic adjustments. In all 50 states and the district of Columbia, chiropractors must be an accredited DC and pass special state exams, exams administered by the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners, or both, to practice.

In order to become a DC, you have to complete on average three years of undergraduate instruction to be admitted to a program and then four years of training to graduate as a DC.

During your first visit to a doctor of chiropractic you will likely discuss your present condition and health history, and then undergo a physical examination. Your chiropractor might order imaging or lab tests to determine what may be causing your issue(s). They may refer you to a different medical professional if necessary for your condition.

Your chiropractor will then explain your condition, develop a treatment plan, and review the risks and benefits of the treatment.

The word “chiropractic” comes from the greek words cheir (hand) and praxis (practice), which aptly describes this treatment approach. Chiropractic therapy (or chiropractic care) is a type of manual or hands-on therapy performed by a licensed chiropractor (doctor of chiropractic, or DC) to improve musculoskeletal health.

Chiropractic therapy focuses on treating disorders of the musculoskeletal and nervous systems. It’s most often used to treat various types of pain.

In a study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society of 5,589 U.S. adults aged 65 years and older, persistent pain was common and was linked to meaningful declines in physical function and well-being over seven years.

Scientists have been studying the effectiveness of chiropractic care for various types of pain for many years. The most promising research is in the area of low back pain. The research has shown spinal manipulation therapy (SMT) is as effective as other common therapies, like exercise therapy, standard medical care, or physiotherapy.

First, be aware of your posture throughout the day and make an effort to stand and sit up straight. Secondly, avoid sitting for long periods of time and take breaks often to move around. Finally, strengthening your core muscles will also help to improve your posture by providing support for your spine.

For people challenged with chronic back pain, a new experimental treatment that focuses on retraining how the back and the brain communicate offers a clinically meaningful effect on pain intensity and a clinically meaningful effect on disability, according to a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. People were happier, they reported their backs felt better and their quality of life was better. It also looks like these effects were sustained over the long term; Twice as many people were completely recovered.

You don’t have to be an ironworker or a lumberjack to be at risk for back injury on your job. Every occupation, however physically undemanding it seems, carries the potential for back injury. Even office work can pose problems. A physically intense job might put a person at greater risk for a serious accident, but the sedentary practice of sitting at a desk all day brings its own set of physical concerns.

We can’t give you advice on how to navigate a TSA security line, other than to say take a deep breath and be patient. But the American Chiropractic Association has pointed out that a long flight can play havoc with tightened muscles and restricted blood flow. When flying, here are some things to remember.

Your feet are the foundation on which your body stands and functions. Chiropractors recognize that one of the keys to spinal health, and therefore the maintenance of overall health, is taking good care of the feet. A foot injury can lead, for instance, to limping. And when the body starts compensating for a limp or for any joint that can’t pull its weight, the over-stressed parts will start to ache. Most likely the other leg or hip will start to ache. Next may come lower back pain.

The spine is made up of distinct areas: the cervical spine, which is essentially the neck; the thoracic spine, in the mid-back; the lumbar spine, the lower back; and the sacral spine, in the pelvis. The lumbar vertebrae—the individual bones that make up the lumbar section of the spinal column—are described as L1 through L5. If one or more of those vertebrae are out of line—what chiropractors call a ‘subluxation’—here are some problems that may ensue:

Most people’s approach to health care is a preventive one. They visit their medical doctor regularly to check for high blood pressure, high cholesterol and other issues. They see the dentist regularly to prevent development of cavities, gum disease and other problems with the mouth. The idea is to not wait until a problem becomes evident.

It used to be thought that the pain, stiffness and diminished function of joints due to arthritis were just an unavoidable part of the aging process. Advice on the topic was for some time limited to, “slow down.” We know now, though, that exercise is essential to managing the disease. Though chiropractors may be best known for working on the spine, particularly keeping its vertebrae, or individual bones, in line, they are trained in the operation of all the body’s joints and in the various therapies available to keep those joints working smoothly.

Fibromyalgia is a condition in which, essentially, a person “hurts all over.” Difficult to diagnose, fibromyalgia is characterized by widespread pain in muscles, ligaments and tendons and creates tender spots all over the body. In some cases, symptoms have begun to appear after a physically traumatic event, like a fall or car accident; after surgery or an infection; or in the aftermath of severe psychological stress. In other cases, though, symptoms may just build gradually. For some reason, women are more likely to develop fibromyalgia than are men.