Member-only story
How to Stay Mobile in Old Age: Just Walk
In yet another example that activity may be the best medicine, researchers have found that walking briskly just 10 minutes or so a day can stave off the debilitating effects of arthritis and help older people stay mobile. The prescription is pretty simple: Stay active so you can stay active.
The study drew on data from more than 1,500 people in the the national Osteoarthritis Initiative database. All suffered pain or stiffness in the knee, hip, ankle or foot, but none reported being disabled at the start of the study period. Four years later, 24 percent who did not get at least an hour of brisk weekly exercise were by then walking too slowly to safely cross the street, a condition researchers call “mobility disability,” and 23 percent had trouble with routine morning tasks like getting dressed.
Conversely, those who got an hour of brisk exercise weekly reduced their risk of mobility disability by 85 percent and cut their chances of struggling with morning routines by 23 percent.
“This is less than 10 minutes a day for people to maintain their independence. It’s very doable,” said lead author Dorothy Dunlop, professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “This minimum threshold may motivate inactive older adults to begin their path toward a physically active lifestyle with the wide range of health benefits promoted by physical activity.”
What’s brisk? About 100 steps per minute for most people, according to one recent study. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines it as being able to talk but not sing while you walk.
As with any study like this, it’s not certain whether other habits of those who walked daily might have contributed to their sustained mobility. Perhaps those who were more mobile felt like walking more, for example. But the findings, published April 1 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, complement other recent research on the wide range of benefits of moderate activity.
One recent study showed that brisk walks, gardening or dancing for a mere 10 to 59 minutes per week was linked to an 18 percent lower risk of death from any cause.
Other research has found that almost any physical activity boosts brain power…
