10/09/2013
Its National Physiotherapy Back Week from the 9th-15th of September 2013.
The theme this year is: Movement for Good Health- Exercise.
Do you think you have to be a gym bunny or marathon runner to gain the health benefits of exercise? Wrong, says Dr Tracy Kolbe-Alexander, of UCT’s Sports Science Institute, speaking at a health symposium at Rhodes University in late August – you can increase wellness and fitness simply by ‘fidgeting’ more. Both literal fidgeting – swinging your foot to and fro or jiggling your knees as you sit at your desk – and occasional movement count towards your daily movement quotient, and help to increase muscle tone and your use of kilojoules.
During National Physiotherapy BackWeek this year, from 9-15 September, the South African Society of Physiotherapy (SASP) is promoting movement for health – movement by everybody, whatever their age and state of health (even a patient who’s bedbound after an operation will benefit from pumping their calves and moving as much as possible).
Some suggestions Dr Linda Steyn (President of the SASP) offers to increase your incidental physical activity:
* When you get a phone call at the office, stand up while you talk – this adds to your physical activity, while breaking up your sedentary time
* Don’t email a colleague down the passage – walk to his or her office and ask your question
* If you’re on the tenth floor and starting from a position of being very unfit, stop the lift at the ninth floor and walk up one flight
*While doing repetitive tasks at the computer, put on some music and tap your feet in time, which ups your ‘fidget’ quotient
* Park 100 metres further away from the door of the shopping centre than you would otherwise choose to
* Automate and delegate less at home and at work – for example, do your own dishes rather than putting them in a dishwasher; wash your own car rather than paying a valet service
* Walk the dog or the kids or your partner. Even if all you do is go around the block once a day, it’s quality time spent together and it increases the number of steps you walk each day
* Dance some more! Infectious, danceable music played while you do tasks such as cooking tempts you into moving a little more.
So... Move to better your health
