Just ten minutes a day of brisk walking can reduce the likelihood of impaired mobility in older adults by 85%. Similarly, the risk of difficulties with daily tasks such as bathing and dressing, can be reduced by 45%. All this emerges from a study by Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.
Participants were adults aged 45 to 79, at elevated risk of osteoarthritis of the knee, based on factors such as age, BMI, previous injury etc. Four years after the start of the study, 24% of adults who did not get the weekly hour of brisk walking were moving too slowly to safely cross the street, and 23% reported problems performing morning routines like getting dressed.
Lead author of the study, Professor Dorothy Dunlop, said “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.”
(One Hour a Week: Moving to Prevent Disability in Adults With Lower Extremity Joint Symptoms. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, online 19 March 2019.)