Senior Fitness: Osteoarthritis

Senior Fitness
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Senior Fitness
Osteoarthritis is a common type of arthritis that involves wearing down of the tissues that protect joints. As the protective tissues at the end of the bones wear down, affected individuals often experience swelling, joint pain, stiffness, and ultimately, their joints may fail to function properly (Kolasinski, et al., 2020). The most affected joints include hand, hips, knees, and lower back joints. There is no cure for osteoarthritis and as such, it can only be managed using evidence-based interventions. Treatment plans include lifestyle management interventions such as exercise and education, as well as surgery. A training program that focuses on exercise will not only reduce pain and enable affected individuals to do simple chores but will also improve their quality of life and delay surgery. This paper provides a training program design for a patient, Maddie, aged 80 years who suffers from severe osteoarthritis. Her condition has affected her ability to perform simple chores and has brought her much pain as well. While other factors, such as age, gender, and genetics (Peterson, Osterloh, & Graff, 2019) may have contributed to the development of this condition, Maddie’s sedentary life when she was younger played a role in her current condition too. According to Peterson, Osterloh, and Graff (2019), sedentary life is a major contributor to the high prevalence rates of osteoarthritis as it enhances inflammation, hence wearing down the joints.
Contradictions to Exercise
While exercises are evidence-based interventions that have been used in the management of osteoarthritis, certain contraindications must be considered when designing a training program. These include joints that are actively inflamed, jerking/fast movements, patients hiding their pain with painkillers as well as extreme bending of weight-bearing joints (Senior Fitness, n.d.). Other contraindications include major damage on the joints and joint replacement in the recent past. Before starting Maddie on the training program, it will be first established whether she has had a joint replacement in the past. Also, the extent of her joint degradation will be assessed to determine whether her joint damage is significant. It is worth noting that whenever she is experiencing pain, she will be given a break since the exercises will not help if she is in pain. Once the pain has subsided, she will resume her exercise.
Training Program
Based on her weight and height, Maddie has a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 22.5, which falls under the normal range. So in her case, weight loss is not a concern and the training program should focus primarily on managing her osteoarthritis. The training program will focus on strength training and endurance conditioning.
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