Risky Medicine

Abstract

Physical activity is a key to successful aging for people with and without low back pain and other forms of musculoskeletal pain. Yet less than a quarter of older adults meet US government recommendations on physical activity. Recent years have seen a slight increase in physical activity levels among seniors but there is a long way to go.A recent study from Florida Atlantic University employed a variety of instruments to identify factors associated with healthy exercise among a multiethnic group of 601 African Americans, Afro-Caribbeans, European Americans, and Hispanic Americans-aged 59 to 96.This type of study cannot show causeand-effect. However, a variety of associations stood out."Participants who reported lower physical activity tended to be older, have less years of education and reported lower social engagement, networking, resilience, mental health, self-health rating, and higher levels of depression, anxiety, pain, and body mass index compared to the moderate to high physical activity groups," according to the study.Several of these factors are modifiable, according to the authors. "Four of the five significant predictors of physical activity in the older adults we studied are at least partially modifiable. For example, social network, depression, and pain can be ameliorated by physical activity," said senior author Ruth M. Tappen, EdD, RN. (See Tappen et al., 2022.