Exercise Prescription Management of the Older Adult: An Evidence-Based Approach, 2nd Edition

Course Description

Course Description:

America is aging. By the year 2030, more than 19% of the U.S. population is expected to be over the age of 65, and the number of older Americans is expected to double to more than 70 million over the next 20 years (Vincent & Velkoff, 2010). More than 60% of older adults are considered to be inactive, making older adults the least physically active of any age group (Hallal et al., 2012a). The cost of inactivity is high and is estimated to cause more than 5.3 million premature deaths worldwide per year (Lee et al., 2012). Aging is known to contribute to a multitude of systemic changes within the cardiovascular, respiratory, endocrine, and musculoskeletal systems that result in decreased health, mobility, and function in older adults. Many of these systemic changes are exacerbated by inactivity. Increased physical activity and exercise may slow or even reverse many of these deleterious effects, thereby improving health, mobility, and function in older adults (Chou, Hwang, & Wu, 2012; de Vries et al., 2012). As outlined in Healthy People 2020, the U.S. government has made increasing the physical activity of older adults a priority and is seeking to increase the number of older adults who participate in routine physical activity (US Department of Health and Human Services Administration on Aging, 2012). According to the American Physical Therapy Association’s Vision 2020, physical therapists should be the “practitioners of choice” for removing the barriers against movement, function, and health (American Physical Therapy Association, 2012).