The live audiences would laugh hysterically at the antics of this somewhat “senile” but lovable individual so skillfully portrayed by Mr. Conway. He would often ad lib his lines which confused and amused his co-stars to the point they would collapse in uncontrollable fits of laughter. It was comedy at its best – taking a real life situation and conveying the humorous side. After all, laughter is the best medicine right?

The senior shuffle is a walking gait where the feet never lift off the ground, but slide forward one at a time – an inch at a time, so “shufflers” travel nowhere fast. This gait is generally seen in the elderly who have grown physically weak with little or no muscle strength in their legs – too infirm to lift even one foot off the ground. To do so might risk losing balance and a terrible fall. While situation comedy is humorous, it’s not so funny for those living the role in real life!

If you’ve never seen the senior shuffle, watch a few minutes of this Tim Conway clip!

Aging is an inevitable and natural part of life, but the signs and symptoms seem to escalate exponentially once one turns fifty! As so many people exclaim “old-age is not for wimps”…. there’s a new challenge every day! For me, I had a reality check about 3 years ago when I ended up with three herniated discs. I’ll tell you about that in a minute.

Like most Baby Boomers, I want to look, feel and be as young as possible – for as long as I am blessed with life. I hope to see my 100th birthday and be as healthy as my chronological age will permit. How about you?

Being healthy to me means being mentally and physically fit with the absence of disease. I am totally into preventative measures and since I’m way too cowardly to even entertain the idea of plastic surgery, I ascribe to natural anti-aging alternatives. That translates into a monthly chiropractic tune-up, deep tissue massage, aerobic exercise 4 days a week, strength conditioning with a trainer twice a week and high quality anti aging skin care applied morning and night. Round that off with a healthy diet, sensible supplementation that includes a unique cellular anti-aging tonic, mental stimulation to retard the memory issues, daily spiritual nourishment, lots of quality time with loved ones and multiple doses of laughter. What more can one do to retard premature aging? The rest is in God’s hands.

Back to the shuffle! You don’t have to be 80 or 90 to get it! It descended on me like a ton of bricks and as fast as a bolt of lightning a while back when I got overly zealous about maintaining bone density. On one doctor’s flippant “say-so”, I took up jump rope (called skipping in my day and that’s what I should’ve done – skipped it) “You need only jump for 3 minutes a day and it will do you the world of good!” she said.

Right on! The third day of pounding up and down and working through the jarring impact on our ceramic tile, with my innards about to tumble out, my “bulging” L-4 disc collapsed onto my L5, the L5 crunched on top of the SI disc and bingo – intolerable pain from three herniated discs that laid me up for several weeks. The first two weeks I definitely had the shuffle, but it beat the “crawling” on the floor that preceded it for two days. It was no picnic. But good came from it! As my good friend Judy says “there’s always a pony in the crap!” You just have to look hard to find it sometimes, but it’s usually there.

In my case I found several ponies, the first of which was an attitude adjustment to make the best of a bad situation and conduct business on the phone from my headset and laptop. I talked all day from a reclined position – had fun catching up with friends and clients, while my beloved hubby waited on me hand and foot. Next, I resolved to take my daily exercise more seriously. I decided to retain a personal trainer once I recovered. Thirdly, I took the advice of my orthopedic surgeon who said “NO impact sports, including running and jumping. Instead, swim and also buy a pair of good walking shoes and wear them out – walking is the best exercise for you.” Fourthly I vowed never to accept that the senior shuffle is inevitable….at any age…unless due to serious injury of course. It is preventable so I decided I will simply skip the senior shuffle.

How do you avoid it? Well, that’s up to you to decide what all you’re willing to do to stay as young and strong and healthy as possible. But one thing is for sure. All research and clinical studies say the same – you can retain muscle strength as you age if you take the necessary actions. Getting older doesn’t mean you have to get weaker. It’s never too late to begin and you’re never too old to start.

Being active is good, but deliberate scheduled aerobic and strengthening exercises are better.

Challenge those muscles, get into the gym, do the resistance exercises and build some muscle density, hire a personal trainer if you need to learn some techniques, but get going – and do it regularly for the rest of your life. Promise me you will START it today. You’ll be very thankful as time goes by and you get stronger and healthier.

I love that my injury resulted in something so positive. There are so many lessons to learn in life that make us better and more filled with joy! I feel stronger and have more muscle mass now than I did in former days. Best of all I can lift my 35 pound grandson above my head. My back and legs are stronger than ever and I intend to keep it that way – and bypass that old-age gait no matter what my actual age.

How about you? Will you join me and skip the senior shuffle?