Evidence-Based Physical Activity Programs for

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Evidence-Based Physical Activity Programs for
Seniors Preliminary Findings

• Jean A. Seward, BSPT, LPT. , Physical Therapist
  and President
• Seniors In Motion, Inc.
• with help from
• Shigeaki Meguro, MBA, CSCS, Assistant Program
  Director
• and
• James Swan, PhD, Rudy Ray Seward. PhD
• University of North Texas, Denton, TX 76203
•  

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Introduction

• Successful aging has become a message of the
  media.
• The media has bombarded us with good health
  practices that have become the quantitative
  parameters of our daily lives.
• How many health factors include hours of sleep,
  many fruits and vegetables, many ounces of wine,
  minutes of exercise, many steps walked, pounds of
  weight lifted, etc.
• Factors could rise to a crescendo of exhausting
  obligations leaving little hope for
  accomplishment.

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Education versus Action

• Drum beat of staying active and healthy in aging
  can be heard but how it is perceived and applied
  to our lives?
• Education is a component that can explain the
  importance of diet and exercise in a healthy
  lifestyle.
• May lead to insight and understanding but not
  always to good health actions.
• Most people know the dangers of smoking, poor
  diet, being overweight and high blood pressure.
• we dont have a failure to educate, we have a
  failure to motivate.

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Motivating and empowering older Americans to be
active and healthy mandated

• The aging of the US population is one of the
  major public health challenges we face in the
  21st century.
• By 2050, 1 out of every 5 Americans will be over
  the age of 65
• Living longer and chronic conditions identified
  as predominantly age related have become a vital
  focus of the health care delivery system.
• Most older Americans today will not die of
  infectious diseases as in other generations.

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Why a senior fitness facility?

• Preventative care is a solution many health care
  providers have been reluctant to embrace.
• Treatment intervention defined as skilled is
  covered and payable, prevention care is not.
• After 35 years of practice in community care
  difficult to understand why it is more worthy to
  treat a broken hip than to educate and prevent a
  fall.
• Health care reform will either address this
  inverted issue or we will continue to search for
  cures or better treatment options for conditions
  that could have been prevented.
• This problem and my experience in patient care is
  what led me to establish a non-profit senior
  fitness facility in 2003.

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The Story of Seniors in Motion (SIM)

• In 2003, a consensus realization emerged among
  the staff therapists, nurses, and medical social
  workers with whom I had been practicing in the
  Denton community since 1980.
• The realization was that an intervention program
  encompassing physical fitness and education was
  needed to promote a healthier lifestyle for older
  Denton area residents.
• The idea that a community program could function
  as a non-profit entity and provide an affordable
  wellness opportunity to older residents grew with
  our concern for increasing health care costs and
  the increasing demand for our professional
  services.

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The Story of Seniors in Motion (SIM)

• Intervention with education and exercise at an
  earlier point in the aging process could make a
  significant difference in preventing or modifying
  a condition which would require medical services
  at a later time.
• The benefits of exercise and staying active would
  bring a quality of life to advancing years.

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The Story of Seniors in Motion (SIM)

• Our vision was to promote FITNESS THROUGH
  EXERCISE AND WELLNESS THROUGH EDUCATION.
• A feasibility study conducted in 2003 surveyed
  physicians providing services to older residents.
  
• The response was overwhelmingly positive (98) to
  the establishment of Seniors in Motion.
• Many physicians wanted to know how soon they
  could start recommending the program to their
  patients.
•  
• SIM has grown from 3 participants in 2003 to over
  150 in 2010.
• We have performed over 700 assessments and are
  currently involved in research projects with the
  University of North Texas and Texas Womans
  University.

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The Story of Seniors in Motion (SIM)

• The physical program design involves an
  individual assessment including areas of vital
  statistics, body composition, muscle strength,
  joint mobility, balance, gait and posture.
• All participants fill out a self assessment which
  reports current activity status, functional
  difficulties with activities of daily living and
  a brief health history.
• Participants are also asked to define their
  individual goals for program outcome.
• The individual fitness plan and workout regime is
  based on these assessments. Assessments are
  performed by a physical therapist and a licensed
  trainer.
• The educational focus includes areas of fall and
  injury prevention, safety awareness, osteoporosis
  management, posture, pain management and balance.
  
•  

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The Story of Seniors in Motion (SIM)

• During the initial assessment there is an
  opportunity for teaching when areas of weakness
  are discovered.
• Participants are provided with fall prevention
  information and safety training if balance
  deficits are evident.
• An important program objective is to raise the
  consciousness of participants to their role as
  health care consumers.
• In providing information on testing procedures,
  surgery, treatment options, informed consent, and
  expected outcome from medical care and treatment,
  we want to help our participants improve the
  quality of communication with their health care
  providers and increase the understanding of
  patient rights and responsibilities.
• SIM is designed to empower our participants to
  have the strength and knowledge to age with
  dignity and confidence.

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SIMRESEARCH PROJECT, SEPTEMBER 2009-MARCH 2010

• Opportunity to evaluate our program using
  quantitative methods was initiated by faculty and
  students at the University of North Texas.
• Results from a pilot study of SIM participants
  conducted in 2007-2008 is the basis of this
  study.
•  
• In the summer of 2009, program participants were
  given the opportunity to sign up for a research
  project designed to assess individual progress
  and program effectiveness.
• Fifty two seniors volunteered to be participants
  in the study. Of these thirty six (36) were women
  and sixteen (16) were men.

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SIMRESEARCH PROJECT, SEPTEMBER 2009-MARCH 2010

• Initial assessments were performed during
  September 2009 and the follow-up reassessments in
  March of 2010.
• The data gathered allowed for comparisons in the
  areas of muscle strength, joint flexibility, gait
  performance and body composition over a 6 month
  period.

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Table 1 Percentage Changes in Muscle Strength and
Joint Flexibility for Seniors In Motion
Participants Assessed from September 2009 to
March 2010
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Table 2 Percentage Changes in Body Composition
and Gait Performance for Seniors In Motion
Participants Assessed from September 2009 to
March 2010
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CONCLUSION

• In the years since 2003 this program has grown in
  participants and importance.
• Our vision has taken on a new meaning with the
  advent of health care reform.
• Staying active and healthy as we age is no longer
  a feel good euphemism it is a fact of life.
• The quality of our aging experience will depend
  on how successful we are in achieving this goal.

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CONCLUSION

• I knew we could make people stronger and more
  flexible but what we didnt know was the spirit
  of kinship and community that would grow out of
  this program.
•  
• We were recently featured in THE JOURNAL OF
  ACTIVE AGING (January/February 2010 Vol. 9, No.
  1) as a recipient of the Nu-Step Pinnacle award
• In the end, the most valuable thing we learned
  was the importance of community, kinship and the
  opportunity to engage in meaningful social
  contact.
• Loneliness can be as devastating as any serious
  health problems.

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CONCLUSION

• Gerontologists speak of aging in place but
  truly this cannot happen if we do not see
  ourselves as a community of people who depend on
  our responsibility to care for one another.