IMPORTANCE OF EXERCISE IN THE ELDERLY
In the geriatric population, physical activity is beneficial.
Physical activity promotes health, slows disease progression,
and prolongs functional independence.1,9-11 Researchers have
identified an inverse relationship between total physical activity
and mortality.12 In fact, physical activity initiated late in life
positively affects mortality, effectively delaying death, even
after statistics are corrected for comorbidities such as smoking,
obesity, and hypertension.13 Physical activity has a profound
effect on elders’ functional level. An analysis of 10,000 older
adults found that those most active were twice as likely as
sedentary people to die without disability.14 Indeed, the pattern
of “normal” functional losses with aging in large part reflects
deconditioning in this population.15
Despite the preponderance of evidence showing the health
benefits of exercise and the support of many large health care
organizations, most elders are not physically active.16,17 As a
subpopulation, the elderly are less active than the general
population.8
The growing wealth of literature documenting the health
benefits of physical activity among the elderly has spurred
many health care organizations to issue consensus statements
extolling exercise for elderly persons. The National Institutes
of Health emphasizes the importance of physical activity and
recommends universal exercise counseling for older adults.18
The American College of Sports Medicine,19 American Heart
Association, American Academy of Family Physicians, American
College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists,20 and the US
Surgeon General’s Office21 have all endorsed exercise promotion
for the elderly