I teach seated yoga in residential care homes, which I find one of the most rewarding aspects of the work that I do. It is also a key driver and motivating factor behind the Age Well Programmes. What if some of the residents I work with had made different lifestyle choices, when they were younger?
There are so many different components and dimensions to ageing well, its challenging to know which areas to focus on, as we get older. Some are within our control and others not, some obvious and others less so, some more challenging than others to implement, and so on.
The 2024 Age Well Programme is both generic and then also be more specific to the individual. Its first objective is to challenge the notion of healthcare. Whilst there is a tide of change gradually sweeping across the healthcare landscape, it may not be soon enough to transform the experience for our generation. Culturally, we have an illness and disease care system. Its not until we are ill that the 'healthcare' system really comes online, and the system is brilliant at what it does. So I am not knocking the care we receive from the most amazing NHS and its phenomenal staff.
Culturally, there is a sense that the power lies without, rather than within us when it comes to staying well. There are many things we can do that stack the odds more in our favour. Responsibility can in part, be parked on our doorstep, for ageing well.
The 2024 Age Well Programme, will act as a signpost for many aspects of ageing well, but the major focus will be on where my strengths lie, working as a therapist and yoga practitioner. Working as a musculoskeletal physiotherapist the currency I deal in, is pain and function, and in most instances as pain increases, function decreases. Of course what we are able to do as we age will diminish over time. However, in my experience that ageing process is massively accelerated, when people suffer pain, decondition, and as a consequence reduce physical exercise/activity.
Chronic pain is a significant global health issue, impacting millions of people worldwide. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it is estimated that around 20% of adults worldwide suffer from chronic pain, while approximately 10% are newly diagnosed each year.
In the UK specifically, chronic pain is a prevalent health concern as well. It's reported that around 28 million adults in the UK are affected by chronic pain, which is nearly half of the adult population. This can encompass a wide range of conditions, including back pain, arthritis, neuropathic pain, and various other types of persistent pain.
The impact of chronic pain extends beyond physical discomfort, affecting mental health, work, quality of life, level of exercise and in turn, and as a consequence, of course impacts other areas of our physical health.
It is most likely that all of us over the coming years will suffer from one sort of pain or the other. The Age Well Programme, will empower you to manage those episodes of pain, through various strategies, but based on education and understanding of pain science from the latest research. With enhanced understanding, the strategies you gain will enable you to navigate those episodes with much greater ease and clarity of purpose, returning you to the levels of activity that you would wish for, keeping you doing what you love for longer!
“People travel to wonder at the height of the mountains,
at the huge waves of the seas,
at the long course of the rivers,
at the vast compass of the ocean,
at the circular motion of the stars,
and yet they pass by themselves without wondering.”
– St. Augustine
Invest in your Health and Wellbeing in 2024, so you can make informed choices that will likely lead to a lengthening of your healthspan. Click on any of the links below to find out more, and I look forward to working with you in the New Year!
Please forward onto family, and friends who would benefit from undertaking an age well programme, or why not gift them, or indeed yourself a programme for Christmas.
Sending love
Stuart xx
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