Articles
The Journal on Active Aging brings articles of value to professionals dedicated to older-adult quality of life. Content sweeps across the active-aging landscape to focus on education and practice. Find articles of interest by searching the article archives in three ways: Enter a keyword in the articles search bar; click on search by topic; or type a keyword or phrase in the general search bar at the top of the page.
Targeting physical activity to women 55-70 by Shelley Callaghan
Within the growing population of older adults, women ages 55-70 are part of a unique group that needs to be targeted. The investment made today will go a long way to ensuring these women are healthy over the long term, reducing the burden on the health system and increasing their quality of life as they age.
moreMarket segments
Teamwork promotes wellness by Pattie Beans-Clark
Mix together a wellness program and friendly competition, blended with teamwork and defined goals, and the result is the HT Challenge, a recipe cooked up by the wellness team at Wesley Enhanced Living at Heritage Towers retirement community. The HT Challenge is a fitness, nutrition and health program that invites participants to form teams or individually work to achieve weekly goals. “HT” stands for “Healthier Together” at “Heritage Towers.”
moreManagement
Plan exercise for individuals using assistive devices by Joseph Kachelman, MS, Kent Brown, MS and Robert Topp, RN, PhD
Difficulty in ambulating, more commonly known as walking, affects 8-19% of older adults in the United States who do not live in an institution.
Ambulatory assistive devices—including canes, crutches, walkers and various joint braces—help people to walk by supplementing the sensory (proprioception, vision, vestibular sensation) and motor components (muscle activation) that are needed to maintain one’s balance while moving
Adaptive exercise
Follow the trail for fun and fitness by Renee Harlow
The Country Meadows Retirement Communities Fitness Walking Trail is a directed walking path that leads participants through a variety of stations. Each station features an exercise or activity that targets:
· balance
· reaction time
· visual cues/following direction
· range of motion
· fine and gross motor skills
· strength and endurance
Exercise
Buyer's guide to foam pads and balance discs
If you are considering providing your clients with unstable surfaces to help them improve balance, then you may want to explore two basic tools: foam pads and discs. While there are other products that are very useful for balance training, pads and discs are usually appropriate for people who are just beginning to train on unstable surfaces.
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Sensational activities that improve balance by Sue Scott, MS
For most of us, balance happens naturally, while we’re busy doing other things. But achieving and maintaining balance is never truly simple. To facilitate even a simple goal, like walking across a room, many systems must work smoothly together. Our balance system continually anticipates, interprets, learns from, monitors, coordinates and responds to ever-changing feedback from multiple sources, including our bodies, the environment and our will. With all of this dynamic interconnectedness, it is no wonder balance issues are complicated.
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