A study carried out on behalf of the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists (ISCP) involving 500 people has found that more than half of people over the age of 50 are not exercising enough.
Adults are recommended to undertake moderate physical activity for at least 150 minutes per week, which is equivalent to 30 minutes per day, five days a week. However, the study found that 59% of those over the age of 50 are not achieving this, with 18% only exercising once a month or less. In fact, the study found that many adults over the age of 50 spend an average of seven hours per day sitting, with almost four of these hours from 4pm onwards each day.
While a common moderate activity is brisk walking, only one in eight people over the age of 50 admitted to going for walks less than once a week – if at all. The most common reason given by people over the age of 50 for not exercising regularly was injuries or other health conditions, such as arthritis, back problems and poor mobility.
ISCP president, Jill Long, recommended that over 50s should try to naturally incorporate more activity into their lifestyles by undertaking activities such as gardening, hoovering, cleaning and standing more.
Does exercise hurt?
Many older people avoid running as exercise as there is a perception that it’s bad for the knee joints. It’s thought that regular running can cause wear and tear to the cartilage and promote the development of arthritis. However, new evidence coming to light may suggest the contrary. A study has found that running changes the biochemical environment inside the knee in a way that could, instead of damaging it, protect it from disease.
Markers for arthritis
Researchers at Brigham Young University, from Utah in the US, looked at 15 male and female runners under the age of 30 with no history of knee injuries or arthritis to see what impact running had on normal joints. To do so, the researchers extracted synovial fluid (a compound that reduces friction in the joints) from the right knee of each runner. The volunteers then went to a biomechanics lab where they were either sedentary, or ran on a treadmill for 30 minutes. Afterwards, another example of synovial fluid was extracted to compare with the first.
What the researchers were looking for were molecules associated with inflammation that could lead to the development of arthritis, as well as changes in cells linked to arthritis. Additionally, they examined the levels of a substance known as Cartilage Oligomeric Matrix Protein (COMP, a compound that accumulates in diseased knees and is used as a marker for arthritis. People with arthritis can have about five times as much COMP in their synovial fluid as those with healthy knees.
Moderate running for arthritis relief
In almost every case, after exercise the runners’ knees showed substantially lower levels of the two types of cells that contribute to inflammation within the synovial fluid, compared to their baseline levels.
After running, the subjects were also shown to have more COMP in their blood and less in synovial fluid. It appeared that some mechanism appeared to squeeze the COMP molecules out of the knee and into the blood. Meanwhile, those who sat out the exercise sessions had slightly increased levels of COMP inside people’s knees. There was also a raised level noted in one of the inflammatory molecules.
According to Robert Hyldahl, a professor of exercise science, the findings suggested that half an hour of running reduced inflammation and decreased markers for arthritis. He also pointed out that sitting for 30 minutes seemed to make the knee more vulnerable to disease.
While the team hope to do more study examining running over longer distances and at difference paces, the conclusion was that moderate running does not damage the knees and could, in fact, offer a protective effect.
Comments are closed.