It is that time of the year again; time to look back and reflect upon the events throughout 2023, but also to look ahead to the new year, and the possibilities and opportunities that it may bring.
The year 2023 had a great start for active ageing when the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) stated that the top fitness trend for Australia for 2023 was “Fitness Programs for Older Adults”. They also reported that Australian Industry professionals recognise the need for fitness services to support the health and welfare of older Australians as the average age of the population increases.
HUR Australia has been able to see this trend first-hand, as we are part of many 50+, or over 65 sites, both in private gyms as well as community care facilities. It has been wonderful to see these sites flourish, and to hear the stories from many users around Australia about improving their clients' health wellness and quality of life, as presented in our annual Newsletter as well as other publications.
Why You Need To Get Residents Into Your Gymnasium
Throughout the year many scientific publications provided more evidence on the benefits of exercise for many aspects of our life. Cognitive health, chronic disease prevention and management, longevity, quality of life as well as independence – all these can be improved with appropriately prescribed exercise. Many of these research papers also included wonderful figures and images summarising the benefits of exercise that we have been sharing in many presentations, to explain the importance of exercise.
Effects of (in)activity and resistance training on physical and cognitive function across the lifespan. Exercise, Sport, and Movement, January 2023,1(1)
Throughout the year we have taken part in both national and international conferences and workshops. The private conversations and public speaking opportunities are always a great opportunity for sharing knowledge and encouraging people to consider commencing a journey of exercise and strength training. Is there anything better than people who share that they are now motivated to make a change.
We have also been sharing knowledge in other ways. We launched a support website for all our clients, and had a number of presentations and clinical training sessions at client sites to educate staff and to empower every resident. HUR Australia’s research lead, Dr Tuire Karaharju-Huisman, has also been writing a health and wellness column in the official magazine of ACCPA, “Aged Care Today”. The latest edition discussed Community health and wellness, highlighting the successful programs run at Southern Cross Care (SA, NT & VIC) Inc. You can find this article, together with all the others via this link.
Feature articles from our client sites have also been shared in other publications, such as the Source Online News. It is always great to hear about the success of the health and wellness facilities, and the positive outcomes for the residents’ and users’ lives after engaging in exercise.
We also continued our webinar series. Our webinar on vestibular and balance training saw two world leading researchers discussing their fields, sharing knowledge from their research findings and clinical knowledge. We are happy that after four years, we still have new topics and specialist join us to share their knowledge to our audience that often reaches five continents.
This year we also started a series of blog posts that aim to discuss new products, research findings and topics of high importance. With new research being published at fast pace, it is great to have an opportunity to share the knowledge in regular articles. You can find all the blogs, as well as other news items here: www.huraustralia.com.au/news
This year we introduced two new products. HUR mobile app allows for the inclusion of exercises at home, combining all training, gym and home, under one profile. The app includes 140+ equipment-free exercises complete with exercise videos and simple instructions. The app collects key exercise data to maximize individual training experience and provide outcome data to the trainer or therapist.
The addition of the Sunbeam module in HUR Smart Balance, allows for the inclusion of both balance and strength exercises, as defined in the award-winning falls prevention protocol, under one profile. HUR Australia, supported by HUR Finland, worked together with Dr Jennie Hewitt, the lead researcher of the protocol, to design and implement the balance exercises into the HUR Smart Balance game selection as a separate module. This module includes several static and dynamic balance exercises, as well as specific reactive games with an additional cognitive challenge. The original Sunbeam trial was done using HUR pneumatic strength equipment with balance exercises run as chair-based group therapy exercises. The new module allows for the inclusion of the balance and cognitive exercises under the HUR Smart Touch umbrella, allowing for training and data control.
We introduced the new module at this year’s annual national conferences of Australian Physiotherapy Association (APA) and Aged & Community Care Providers Association (ACCPA). The new addition was received with excitement, with the first installations of the module only a few weeks after the official launch. You can read more about the Sunbeam module in our recent blog.
Despite the many publications through the year verifying the benefits of exercise, a recent article, with the print version to be published in early 2024, discussed “The rising tsunami of poor muscle health and sarcopenia in Asia-Pacific”, calling professionals to get into action with targeted interventions for frailty and muscle loss (S.T Chew et al. (2024), Arch Gerontology & Geriatrics, Vol 117). Despite all the evidence of the benefits of exercise, and the reported importance of muscle strength, many general practitioners don’t consider diagnosing for sarcopenia, or engaging allied health professionals in treatment, consequently appropriate exercise is not prescribed. Maybe this can be the goal for the new year; recognising, preventing and treating muscle loss with appropriate nutritional and exercise prescription.
A great information package on muscle loss, sarcopenia, is our webinar from a few years ago, “Muscles and Mobility Matter”, with presentations from Professor Robin Daly, and Accredited Exercise Physiologist Richelle Street. You can access this webinar below, HUR Australia Webinar – Muscles and Mobility Matter (youtube.com)
Overall, it has been a great year with new sites, improved knowledge, great conversations, interesting conferences, success stories of client sites, and many lives changed for the better with the inclusion of exercise. As the year comes to an end, it is time to slow down and get ready for the festive season filled with rest and recovery, ready to start a new year filled with energy in just a few weeks. It will be a busy, but great start for the year, and we are looking forward to sharing more stories with you all.
On behalf of HUR Australia. I want to wish everyone a wonderful festive season, a Merry Christmas and a Wonderful New year 2024!
Dr Tuire Karaharju-Huisman
Physiotherapist, Accredited Exercise Physiologist (ESSAM), PhD (Biomechanics)
Research Lead, Area Account Manager (Vic, Tas, SA)
