No matter how you slice it, the U.S. population is aging. But we're not getting old the way we used to. Thanks to remarkable breakthroughs in medicine, public health and technology, the bodies we bring to the last third of our lives are dramatically different from those of the generations that have gone before.
Unlike our ancestors, our grandparents and even, in some cases, our parents, people growing older today can reasonably expect to go to their graves with their eyesight and their teeth. They will retain their mobility longer and will likely even look younger.
Here's a closer look at five ways in which we're becoming a nation of younger feeling (and looking) oldsters.
Our joints
Before surgical interventions, there was little relief for people aging with the crippling pain of joint diseases such as osteoarthritis. They were often advised to seek temperate climates and were sold oils, tinctures, rubs and liniments, which may have somewhat eased the symptoms.
"It hurt to move, so they didn't move," said Dr. James Pacala, a geriatrician who heads the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Minnesota.
"They needed wheelchairs and crutches and were at a high fall risk. They couldn't drive and had to rely on caregivers. You had a whole family involved with this one problem."
That's why Pacala considers it a "game changer" to "simultaneously be able to eliminate someone's pain and improve their mobility almost immediately."
First performed in the 1960s, total knee and hip replacements are now among the most common elective surgeries. A 2014 Mayo Clinic study found that 4.7 million Americans have had knee implants and 2.5 million had undergone hip arthroplasty.