Why is the health industry is failing older people?
It is almost impossible in 2007 to pick up any health fitness journal, popular health magazine or new book release which does not have at least one reference to, or article on, the unmet health needs of older people. These unmet health needs are often addressed in articles discussing how to work with older people; articles discussing the prevention of osteoporosis; and/or articles or books on the latest diet (1,2).
So exercise professionals have the knowledge: What now?
Since these concerns are being addressed in professional journals as well as in the popular press, then my questions to exercise professionals are, “Why is your fitness and health messages being completely ignored by older people who according to health statistics could benefit physically as well as psychologically from our programmes? And, why is the approach of exercise professionals and the health and fitness industry in general not working?” In the last twenty years the UK has experienced a marked increase in the number of gyms, health and fitness centres, leisure centres, and local authority exercise classes.
Register of Exercise Professionals
To meet this increase there has also been an increase in the number of people entering the health and fitness field, documented by The Register of Exercise Professionals, which in the last four years has registered 40,000 individual health and fitness specialists (3). Unfortunately, these two increases have not made a dramatic effect on the health of the nation as expressed by the number of Government initiatives on health and fitness during this same time period. So again, I ask “Why?”
Catering for the fitness and exercise of older people
Fitness and health to many exercise professionals is a way of life. To the majority of the general public this is not the case, therefore, it is imperative that the fitness and health message, firstly, be accurate, and secondly, be attainable to Joe and Jane Public. Many professionals do not understand or address the many barriers that stop individuals from participating in any form of exercise. For an older person to attend a gym / leisure centre the first barrier that he or she as a potential client needs to overcome is the lack of self confidence to even enter the gym. This lack of self confidence often stems from the fear of what he/she looks like compared to everyone else in the gym. This anxiety can be age related, size related, exercise experience related or a combination of all three. Once the potential client has either entered a class or the resistance machine area, the fear of “everyone is looking at me” is often intensified.
The role of health club staff
These fears can be overcome by a very out-going, responsive staff, however, I have found most gym environments in the UK to be unfriendly in ambience, unhelpful and lacking in staff presence. Since the potential client has now perceived themself to be ignored, he/she will often continue exercising without seeking professional advice and many times this continuation will result in an injury. This injury could easily have been avoided if the gym concerned was staffed with professionals who are enthusiastic and strongly self-motivated to use their background knowledge in health and the biomechanics of physical exercise, to modify exercises for individual clients, whether in a class or on a machine.
The exercise professional
Exercise professionals know the benefits that older people can reap from becoming more active, and now research is showing us that those over 50, who exercise consistently, can benefit more than any other age group (4). Exercise Professionals are failing to get this message embraced by them. They are failing to convince them that they can psychologically as well as physically benefit from our programmes, possibly because our programmes are ‘our’ programmes and not individualized. Exercise professionals tend to categorize people, “over 50’s”, rather than look at and address the individual. Exercise is an individual activity and as such needs to be addressed as such. Each person who attends a gym might not want a personal trainer but he/she has individual needs/goals that should be addressed.
Exercise benefits for older people
In 1975 the late Dr. George Sheehan MD, Cardiologist and Medical Contributor for many years to Runner’s World, stated in his book, Dr Sheehan on Running (5) that according to “….physiologists, perpetual athletes are often two to three decades younger physically than their contemporaries”(5, p. 5). Today’s research is taking these findings further and explaining to us that if we are physically active and fit then we can expect to live a longer, higher quality and healthier life than our sedentary contemporaries (6). There is no shortage of up-to-date research on the values and benefits of participating in moderately intense physical activity and these values and benefits can be gained to some degree no matter at what age the activity starts. The ideal, of course, is a commitment to physical activity from an early age and continuing this commitment throughout one’s life. It is more important for the individual to be physically active than to be concerned about the individual’s age at the start of the programme.
Exercise professionals: Addressing the problem
If one of the major goal of the health and fitness professional is to motivate people to embrace a healthy and active lifestyle, then this goal needs to be clearly defined and not just a verbal message in our educational offerings and advertisements. Exercise professionals need to take active and dramatic steps to ensure that our message is accurate and its goals are attainable. Most importantly, fitness and exercise professionals need to ensure that as outgoing and strongly motivated professionals are approachable by older clients, otherwise they will continue to fail to meet the needs of this important group of people.
References
1. Gilbert, Tonia. 2006. Working with Older Adults. The REPs Journal,4:20-22.
2. Houtkooper,L., Stanford,V., Metcalfe,L., Lohman,T. and Going,S. 2007. Preventing Osteoporosis the Bone Estrogen Strength Training Way. ACSM’s Health and Fitness;11,1:21-27.
3. News Item. 2006. Flying High. 2006. The REPs Journal, 7:6.
4. Earle, R. and Baechle, T., eds. 2004. NSCA’s Essentials of Personal Training Hong Kong: Human Kinetics.
5. Sheehan, George. 1975. Dr. Sheehan on Running. New York: Bantam Books
6. Neiman, David. You Asked For It. 2007. ACSM’s Health and Fitness;11,1:5-6.
This article is courtesy of Lynne-Marie Partington
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