The Klezmer Fusion Band

Let’s Move

Doctor helps get aging people back in
action — and gets people on the dance fl oor.

ASHOURINA SLEWO SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

A

ated with aging, which, according
fter working in a nursing
to Alexander, is why they are so
home, Dr. Neil Alexander,
commonly brushed off. A decline
professor of internal medi-
in mobility should be taken
cine and senior research
seriously, he says, and not
professor in the Institute
be accepted as just another
of Gerontology at the
part of getting older.
University of Michigan,
“The patients who come
became interested in
to see me are those who’ve
mobility issues in older
been involved with some
adults. This interest, paired
medical care or rehabilita-
with his desire to under-
tion, and they likely have
stand the science of reha-
Dr. Neil Alexander
not just aging issues, but
bilitation, says Alexander,
also what I call age-associat-
61, is what led him to his
ed diseases,” Alexander says.
current path.
“These are diseases and impair-
“I was struck by how people in
nursing homes had difficulties with ments not caused by aging, but
they seem to be more common with
mobility — basically getting in and
aging, such as arthritis or spinal
out of a bed or a chair — and we
conditions like spinal stenosis.”
didn’t know much about it in those
Alexander assesses individuals to
days,” Alexander says of his work
pinpoint the components that con-
in the late 1970s. He found himself
tribute to their decline. From there,
asking why it was so difficult for
he develops a strategy in which he
these people to carry out simple
works with patients to optimize
tasks.
what mobility they still have.
For a man in constant motion, it
As professor of internal medicine
is no surprise that Alexander’s work
and senior research professor at
and research focuses on mobility
U-M and being charged with direct-
and mobility enhancement. The
ing two clinics, Alexander admits
Ann Arbor resident is the founder
he works hard to manage his time
and director of the university’s
to balance work with extracurricu-
Mobility Enhancement Clinic and
lar activities and family, ensuring
director of the Veterans Affairs
time with both his children and
(VA) Ann Arbor Healthcare System
stepchildren.
Research Education and Clinical
However, even with a full plate,
Center (GRECC).
Alexander still manages to be
According to Alexander, the
actively involved in the Jewish com-
work he does at the Mobility
Enhancement Clinic is informed by munity. He belongs to Beth Israel
Synagogue, where he leads ser-
the research he does in collabora-
tion with the university and the VA. vices for Rosh Hashanah and Yom
Kippur.
Mobility issues are typically associ-

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