Exercise for Everyone

Exercise is a long term focus for our society, and connecting posture with exercise is a way for PosturePractices to position and align themselves uniquely with a trend for the greater good. Despite our HealthCare system being described as “broken”, the attention on exercise is one thing slowly shifting in the right direction. According to the CDC, doctors recommend more exercise¹.

A 2010 study showed that 32.4% of patients who had seen a physician or other health professional in the past year had been advised to exercise or perform other physical activity. However, this means over 2/3 of people are not being specifically told to exercise by doctors.

While government stats say only about 24% of US adults 55 years and older engage in “regular” leisure-time physical activity, a study by the Association for Advancement of Retired People (AARP)² found their members were far more active. 71% of the AARP members reported being physically active, with over half clocking over four hours a week. However, 19% had no physical activity and planned to stay sedentary.

Of the active people,the overwhelming favorite: Walking

Any way you look at it, as attention focuses on exercise there’s lots of room for improvement in helping people get active. Business is increasingly catering to this growing niche. Holiday Inn investing $150 million in a new hotel brand focused on exercise and health, with the first locations slated to open in 2013³. Science is showing that exercise may have even more far reaching effects than anyone suspected, with the tantalizing finding that genes can be turned on by exercise⁴.   The social trend towards exercise creates an opening for those of us focused on posture.

Helping people and your practice.

Your patients, other health professionals, as well as businesses agree: exercise is good. And when you ask them about posture, they all “get” that your posture affects how you can move, and how you can exercise. This is why using “May is Posture Month” to promote posture awareness with an annual posture picture is a great idea that makes sense to everyone. When you ask people how often they exercise, follow-up by asking them if they are Posture Conscious when they exercise.

Creating awareness of the issue is the first step in building the value of helping people to strengthen their posture.

Join the International Posture Month Health Initiative.