I notice when people get a lot older, especially in nursing homes, a majority of them are wheelchair bound. My grandpa had a walker, my dad had a crutch. I’m not really sure of why though. It seems like older people always have canes, walkers or wheel chairs to get around. What goes wrong with your legs that doesn’t inhibit the arms?
In: Biology
It’s not always that the legs don’t work. Some of those people will have heart or lung problems that limit their ability to tolerate any sort of physical activity including walking.
When it is the legs, it can be a lot of reasons. One is orthopedic as in the joints and bones mentioned by others. People can also have neuropathies affecting their ability to feel their legs and balance, which mostly affect the legs more than the arms because the legs are longer. This can also cause chronic nonhealing wounds of the legs.
Degenerative spine disease is also extremely common and can lead to debilitating back and leg pain and, less commonly, true neurologic weakness in the legs. But often the pain is enough to put someone in a wheelchair, especially the elderly.
Lastly, sometimes people with dementia have impaired mental status to the point that they are not able to walk.
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