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Effective Fall Prevention Exercise Update

Individualized programs and better exercise engagement are keys to successful fall prevention training.

Individually tailored, moderate-intensity programs that combine balance and functional exercise are the most effective fall prevention method for residents in older age facilities, according to a study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (2024). Researchers from The University of Sydney analyzed 32 randomized controlled trials with 3960 residents in older age facilities, some with cognitive and/or mobility impairments. Investigators noted that exercise programs at residential aged care facilities produce best results when programs are sufficiently resourced to deliver simple, structured, and supervised exercises at a sufficient dose for the individual.

Using relevant balance and strength exercises, individually tailored to meet existing frailty, dementia and chronic conditions was a key takeaway from all studies. Supporting exercise engagement was a second theme. Group exercise to socialize, fall prevention education for staff and residents to understand exercise’s value, and user-friendly electronic equipment to ease participation, were all successful methods to increase program involvement.

More research is recommended to evaluate this theory, implementation methods, additional engagement strategies and more.

Tai Chi and Hypertension

Tai chi training can be tailored to prevent and support hypertension management.

High blood pressure is a global chronic health condition; studies suggest that tai chi practice may lower blood pressure. Fitness pros who lead tai chi exercises may find an opportunity in the conclusions from a clinical research summary that analyzes how tai chi practice can support blood pressure management. Researchers from Zhejiang Normal University in Jinhua, China, note that while evidence supports tai chi’s effectiveness to both lower blood pressure in people with hypertension and to improve life quality, how to exercise specifically for each case of hypertension is unclear. A barrier for tai chi use is its complexity. “[I]t is urgent to develop a series of simplified Tai Chi suitable for hypertensive patients with different levels of physical activity,” write study authors in the Annals of Medicine (2024).

Fit pros experienced in tai chi may consider ways to modify and offer the practice to reach a broader range of practitioners and support people with hypertension. More research is recommended.

Aquatic Exercise Improves Pain Relief

Aquatic exercise significantly relieves pain when compared with land-based exercise.

Aquatic exercise relieves pain, improves physical function and increases life quality in adults with chronic musculoskeletal conditions compared to no exercise, according to a meta-analysis of studies reported in Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Research (2023). Chronic musculoskeletal disorders include chronic joint and muscle pain, stiffness, inflammation and functional disability. Medical treatments are drugs, injections and electroshock therapy, that can be expensive and unpleasant with inconsistent results and unwanted side effects. Aquatic exercise is less expensive, offers social support and can increase a person’s self-efficacy.

Researchers from Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, analyzed 32 clinical trials with 2,200 participants. Water exercise, compared to no exercise, reduced pain, significantly increased physical function and significantly improved life quality. When compared with land exercise, water fitness was more effective at relieving pain.

Link Between Youth Aerobic Fitness and Future Work Ability

Study finds poor childhood cardiorespiratory fitness may predict adult work disability.

Poor cardiorespiratory fitness in adolescence is linked with work disability in adulthood according to a 45-year study published in JAMA Network Open (2024). Researchers from University of Jyväskylä, Finland, studied 1207 male and female participants in Finland at three different periods in their life: from 12 to 19 years of age, early middle age and retirement age.

Low aerobic fitness in youth was associated with poor work ability at the middle and end of working life. Study authors note that enhancing cardiorespiratory fitness in the first decades of life might contribute to better work capacity and productivity in the labor force, with implications for health, quality of life, society and the economy.

“The finding is worrying, even though work ability is a multifaceted concept with numerous factors affecting it,” says lead study author Perttu Laakso, PhD, University of Jyväskylä. “Given that the participants in the study were born in the 1960s and had a higher average youth cardiorespiratory level compared to today’s adolescents, the finding is even more worrisome.”

Time Zone Travel and the NBA

New research shows impact of time zone travel on elite athletic performance.

New research on NBA players. finds that the body clock impacts performance of NBA players, according to research noted in Chronobiology International (2024). “One of the most important results of this research for the home games of the NBA teams is that while traveling to the west increases performance, traveling to the east decreases performance,” says Firat Özdalyan, PhD, sports physiologist at Dokuz Eylül University, Izmir, Turkey.

Researchers analyzed game data from 25,016 games across 21 consecutive seasons. This study was unique in that it evaluated the performance impact of circadian rhythms (biological changes that occur approximately every 24 hours), as opposed to time zone only. This is an important distinction because teams that undertake a long road trip to the opposite coast, for example, will establish circadian rhythms of that coast—so they will be asynchronous upon return to their home court.

For home games, the team returning from a time zone ahead of the local time had the best chances of winning (e.g., a west coast team returning from an east coast road trip). For away games, having an internal clock synchronized to the same time zone as the venue was the most advantageous. Study authors note that this means that teams from further West may have a circadian rhythm advantage over teams in regular season games.

The body clock adapts more easily when traveling east to west as the day becomes slightly longer (i.e., the later sunset is perceived as a ‘longer’ day). A natural circadian rhythm is slightly longer than 24 hours. Travel fatigue may have a stronger impact than body clock shifts in away games. More research is recommended.

“I got a strength coach. My wife. She gets big chains, and at night she puts them around the refrigerator. They are so strong, I can’t break them.”

George Foreman (1949–present). American former professional boxer, two-time world heavyweight champion, Olympic gold medalist, entrepreneur, minister and author.

Physical Activity Protects from Chronic Pain

New study shows being active can lower risk of severe chronic pain.

If your clients complain of chronic pain, offer an explanation of how being more active can help with pain management. It may be counterintuitive, but data analysis shows that one can use physical activity to increase their ability to tolerate pain. Researchers from the Arctic University of Norway, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and the University Hospital of North Norway, found that among more than 10,000 adults, those who were more active in their free time had a lower chance of experiencing chronic pain seven to eight years later.

Even increasing activity slightly, like going from light to moderate regular activity, was linked with a 5% lower chance of reporting chronic pain later in life. Interestingly, for people with severe pain throughout the body, higher activity resulted in an even greater reduction in pain—up to 16% reduced risk of pain. Study authors note that this protective effect likely results from a higher tolerance to pain.

The study is published in PAIN—Journal of the International Association for the Study of Pain, (2023).

University Professor Offers Jumping Jacks

Recent research shows exercise snacks can increase students’ attention and motivation.

Growing research supports the benefits of “exercise snacks”—short term intermittent exercise breaks. Scott Hayes, PhD, an associate professor of cognitive neuroscience from The Ohio State University, put this theory into practice by offering one to two 5-minute exercise sessions during each 80-minute lecture class. Two hundred and twenty-three students from 4 separate courses completed assessments at the end of the semester about how they felt about these movement breaks during lectures.

Students reported positive impacts on their attention and motivation, engagement with peers and with course enjoyment. “If you give students a break and get their bodies moving for just a few minutes it can help them get their minds back to the lecture and probably be more productive. I know it helps me, as well.” Hayes noted that it’s too difficult to research whether the exercise breaks improved student learning and grades, as too many variables make it difficult to assess. Hayes intends to continue the practice; it’s catching on with other lecturers. The research is described in Frontiers in Sports and Active Living (2024).

Cross-Training for Surfers

Review study shows that aerobic, anaerobic conditioning and upper body strength are key.

Surfing—a new Olympic sport—is likely to grow in popularity with more attention focused on its champions. In a review of studies of the performance analysis of surfing, researchers found that surfing involves a variety of activities: paddling, resting, wave riding, breath holding and recovery of surfboard in the surf. These activities require high cardiorespiratory fitness, high muscular endurance, and strength and anaerobic power, especially in the upper torso.

Understanding the demands of surfing helps coaches to assess the physical characteristics of individual surfers, monitor athletic performance and improve training protocols. Fitness pros who train surfers can use this information to design cross-training programs. More research on the sport of surfing is needed.

The study is available in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research (2017).

Resistance Band Training for Older Adults

Systematic review shows benefits and barriers for resistance band training.

Elastic band training is valuable for older adults because their use can yield improvements related to mental health, upper and lower limb flexibility, endurance and upper body strength, and balance and cardiorespiratory fitness. Preliminary results from a review of studies, published in PLoS One (2024), also show that resistance band training can improve lifestyle and health measures like sleep quality, blood pressure, bone density, blood sugar and cholesterol levels.

Group training was most effective to create cohesion, provide fun and promote behavioral change. Most participants preferred a trainer to lead their workouts. Training was also most effective when held at a convenient time for most participants. More research is recommended.

Exercising Male Rats Burn More Fat Than Females

Study highlights why research needs to include both male and female subjects.

Vigorous exercise burns more fat in male rats, while female rats protect their fat stores, according to findings from a longitudinal study exploring the molecular mechanisms for why exercise provides health benefits. Researchers found that exercise increases the health of mitochondria (cellular energy producers), leading to enhanced liver function, stronger heart muscle, better immunity and less lung and gut inflammation.

“We found that fat tissue between male and females is very different even in sedentary animals,” says Christopher B. Newgard, PhD, study author and director of the Duke Molecular Physiology Institute. “Males burn fat for energy while females preserve their fat mass. This is brought about by many differences in molecular responses lurking beneath the surface in fat from male compared to female rats.”

“We saw both sexes mobilize their metabolism to get the energy they need,” says lead study author Gina M. Many, PhD, a biomedical scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington. “But they get their energy in different ways. Females do so without drawing much from their fat stores, likely because those are critical to reproductive health.”

Study findings are reported in Nature Metabolism (2024).

The same scientists are currently studying more than 1500 human subjects, building on the results from the rodent research.

Teen Boys Reduce Injuries with FUNBALL Soccer Training Program

Pre-game exercises designed to reduce soccer-specific injury risks are successful.

A sport-specific exercise series offered to male soccer enthusiasts between 13 and 19 years of age significantly reduced football-related injuries, according to a study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (2024). The FUNBALL program consists of exercises designed to reduce soccer injuries. These exercises are performed before each game and training session immediately after the warm-up. When applied and evaluated for one season, an international group of European researchers found that the overall injury incidence was lowered by one-third.

Two exercises from each of the following categories were included: (1) balance, (2) core stability, (3) hamstring muscles eccentrics, (4) gluteal muscle activation, (5) plyometrics and (6) running/sprinting. Coaches decided which exercise to use. The program takes 15-20 minutes. Specific exercises are listed here.

More research is recommended to evaluate whether the FUNBALL program can also reduce injuries among seniors, female players and veteran athletes.

Question of the Month

Do you (or your facility) offer sport-specific cross-training programs? For example, programs such as marathon or half-marathon preparation, triathlon or ski season cross-training have all enjoyed popularity. If you are offering or considering offering any sports cross-training programs, what are they? If you have offered past programs, what has been most successful and why? Tell us about your experiences using the comments section below.

We want to hear from you!

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The Fit In in Brooklyn, New York, founded by fitness professional Ife Obi who believes it’s her duty “to make sure all women—particularly BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, and people of color] women—know they are worthy just as they are right now”.

Shirley Eichenberger-Archer, JD, MA, is the 2008 IDEA Fitness Instructor of the Year. She’s a best-selling author of 16 books, including Pilates Fusion: Well-being for Body, Mind and Spirit, and contributing editor to Fitness Journal. Reach her at shirleyeichenbergerarcher.com.