APTA’s vision for physical therapy is “transforming society by optimizing movement to improve the human experience”. How will you embody this vision as a future physical therapist?

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I admire the power, beauty and precision of a proverb, “To lie down is to die, to sit is to be sick, and to move is to live.”  End with this as well !
Human beings are designed to move and be active. Our bodies evolved to meet the demands of human existence. And yet, research shows us that, as economies develop, their populations’ level of activity become dangerously low. The human and economic costs are staggering. Physical inactivity is a looming and dangerous threat to everyone’s health, well-being and quality of life. But most importantly it results in an erosion of human potential.
The problem is much bigger and the consequences are far more radical than people may realize. Perhaps most alarming is the fact that the problem, its costs and consequences are passed forward across generations, creating a cycle of poor physical and emotional health, and tragically wasted human potential.
The evidence suggests this is an unintended byproduct of innovation and economic progress. Vehicles, machines and technology are now available to complete the tasks that once required physical effort. As economies grow, physical activity is systematically designed, innovated and engineered out of daily life.
Physical Inactivity perpetuates a dangerous cycle. Inactive children are likely to become inactive adults.  Later in life, physical inactivity increases periods of ill-health and morbidity. Perhaps most dangerous of all, physically inactive parents pass along the same patterns to their children.
Today, physical inactivity is linked to approximately 5.3 million premature death worldwide each year. By the end of this decade, most Americans will exert only slightly more energy per week than if they slept 24 hours a day. It is time to wake up and take actions!
1. Create early positive experiences for children. A generation that enjoys positive experiences in physical education, sports and physical activity early in life has the chance to shape the new future. This stage of life is especially important because it is exactly the time when children’s brains are about to hardwire their motivations and preferences for life.  Access to age-appropriate types of movement early in life is essential to a physically active young person’s development. Universal access: programs that are effective for every child, including those who face the most barriers to participating in physical activity (e.g. children with disabilities, minorities, those from low-income families) are likely to improve both the quality and experience for broader populations. Age appropriate: Physical activities and tasks that are systematically designed for a child’s physical, social, and emotional development as well as his or her physical and emotional safety, are non-negotiable component of good program design. Dosage and duration:  maximum benefit for school-aged children comes from group-based activity for at least 60 minutes per day. Celebrating attendance, participation, and both individual and group effort and progress. Successful programs build group and individual goal-setting and feedback loops.
Public school policies sometimes link school funding to standardized testing and performance accountability with no requirements for physical education even though it has been shown to improve academic achievement and behavior.
Focus on physical play, fundamental motor skill sand activity diversity, rather than premature sport specialization. Use positive reinforcement for good behavior and progress.
A little motivation goes a long way. When it comes to kids and sports or play, it is not about ‘getting paid to play’ it is about tying tangible and intangible rewards to kids’ effort and progress.  For kids to choose a lifetime of physical activity, sports and play, the options available to them must be fun. One should use exercise as punishment. Rather, celebrate and reward commitment to being active.
Ensure that schools provide physical education in curriculum time to encourage physical activity and break up sedentary time.
Encourage, involve and educate parents to promote physical activity play at home.
Getting optimal. How much, how long, how hard, what format? Sessions should include warm-up, aerobic activity and muscle- and bone- strengthening activities. The full benefits of movement only comes from engaging in the right type of physical activity, frequently enough, for long enough and at the right level of intensity.
Age appropriate: Physical and emotional development varies by age. What  is fun for a teenager may not be fun – or even safe – for a little kid or an elderly. For programming and activities to work, they must be designed specifically for the age and developmental level of participants. Educate parents on healthy play activities for a child’s early development, recognize and communicate the dangers of early sport specialization.
2. Integrate physical activity into everyday life. Economies, cities and cultures can be shaped and designed to encourage and enable physical movement. To ensure a better future for all, they need to be the norm. Everyone deserves an opportunity to be physically active. For individuals, it is a necessary investment in our well-being and quality of life. At the national level, it is a critical investment in social well-being, public health and economic grows. There is no doubt that innovation and technological progress can – and should – continue. For the sake of our futures, however, physical activity must ne a non-negotiable part of economic development.
Schools, workplaces, communities, the built environment and transportation options can all have physical activity embedded in them. Transportation policies and strategies to facilitate safe and affordable access to sports programs, playgrounds and parks, ensure safe and user-friendly transportation systems, pedestrian and bicycle-friendly communities, and provide incentives to employers to encourage physically active forms of transportation.
Throughout human development, physical activity has been a component in all aspects of our daily lives. In the last 1-2 generations, a significant divestment of physical activity has occurred in occupation and transportation.
Most people with desk jobs spend their days on emails, conference calls, or in webinar and meetings. These are usually sedentary activities – by why? There is really no reason most of these things cannot be paired with some form of physical activity. Employers benefit tremendously from a physically active workforce in terms of productivity and health care cost savings, so it makes sense to promote a culture of physical activity in the workplace. This is not yet the norm.
City design is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. And what worked before wont necessarily work now. Bike lanes would be a good place to start. Mixed-use urban design can provide easy access to parks, retail, transit, and schools. Also, what’s wrong with a few ramps and rails so skaters could a few tricks? Walk it, bike it, skate it, jump it. Incorporate universal design principles to maximize accessibility by all populations.
Aiming for universal access: Girls, children with disabilities, and those from low-income families are often the most excluded from opportunities to engage in sports and physical play. When programs are designed with these population segments in mind, they are more likely to work for everyone. Designing for any ‘hard to reach’ population segments requires a nuanced understanding of existing barriers for people with physical or intellectual disabilities, obese  people, girls and women, low income families, the elderly.
As a future PT I will have to better understand what is already being recommended, determine where existing agenda are aligned and identify any gaps that may exist.
Capture baseline data and track and report population physical activity levels.  It is possible that the scale of physical inactivity levels has gone undetected due to a lack of measurements. Establishing baseline data on physical activity levels and participation in various types of physical activity. Specifically track changes driven by occupational, domestic, leisure and transportation factors. Data should capture results for both adults and children. Evaluate school physical education and school sports programs and identify strategies to improve and invest. Track the growing costs and consequences of physical inactivity.
Measure impact and outcomes: establish consistent approaches to monitoring and evaluation. Invest in rigorous monitoring and evaluation of programs and their impact.
Ensure universal access.
Targeting those who suffer disproportionally from the consequences of  physical inactivity will yield the highest return.
Find and innovate new sources of capital.
Optimize government and private/commercial resources.
Strengthen and clarify message, and coordinate advocacy efforts.
Share sound practices and elevate bright spots.
With combined expertise, diverse resources and collective commitment, we can create a new way of life for all – one that unleashes our extraordinary human potential.
Screen for physical activity from infancy to adulthood.
Recognize the contribution of physical activity to positive health and well-being, especially in prevention of non-communicable diseases.
Prescribe physical activity, alone or in combination with medications when it is indicated.
Explore ways to fill gaps in public funding.
Be a role model – is to make physical activity a priority in your own life. Ballys. Attitudes and engagement in physical activity are heavily influenced by the attitudes and engagement of people around you, whether you know it or not. The behavior spreads like a virus.
Habits are important in ones life. From my experience of volunteering at geriatrics rehab center, I could see clearly what patient has lead an active life or sedentary. Their outcome of recovery was markedly different. Therefore it is of a paramount significance to introduce children to active life style so that a good habit is developed.
Physical is not widely viewed as ‘fun’. People have been conditioned to see it as punishment or ‘work’. The popular culture recognizes it as something people want to do, not something they have to do. This reshapes the popular mindset, leading people to realize that physical activity is not only good for them, but desirable.
Despite what we know about the rapid decline of physical activity, a review of available data suggests that there is no one organization or sector, in any country, responsible for monitoring it. In instances where countries track and report physical activity levels, there is very little standardization or consistency to measure across the spheres of occupation, transportation, domestic, and leisure time.
No one reports and supports the full benefits of physical activity, although the supporting evidence exists in individual publication. In terms of broad awareness, the physical benefits appear to be known to some degree, but the key decision-makers and the public at large perhaps underappreciate the benefits to economics, communities, and public health.
For all seven years of my academics earning my bachelors and masters degrees, I made a commitment to walk to my college instead of taking public transportation. The benefits were obvious: I was always on time for my first class knowing it took me 43 minutes to get to my school while bus schedule is unreliable. Secondly, I was fully awake and fresh from such a brisk walk and ready to fully engage into studying. However, most importantly I was moving instead being moved.
In today’s health care setting the need for education and self care are paramount to the success of everyone’s therapy program.
As a future therapist I will teach my patients a dynamic whole body integration program that will balance muscle flexibility, tone, and strength, while facilitating balance and postural control.
The program will be evolved to meet patients’ needs that are continually changing. Our dynamic intervention supports the changes in the body and provide balance in an imbalanced world. Many exercises can be developed to help prevent common injuries.
Transportation policy provides one of the single most important ways to get people physically active. Whether it is mandating bike lanes and sidewalks or providing vouchers to low-income children so they can access options for sports and physical play, these policies just might be the difference-makers.
Establish an integrated national and state physical activity strategy, with high-level commitment from Ministers of Departments of Education, Health, Youth and Sports. Establish baseline data and ongoing measurement population physical activity level. Local governments can develop new parks and open spaces to keep pace with population growth, establish policies to ensure universal access and safety. Plan for all forms of active transportation –pedestrian, bicycling, skating.

THE WORLD HAS ?STOPPED MOVING
Just a few generations ago, physical activity was an integral part of daily life. In the name of progress, we’ve now chipped away at it so thoroughly that physical inactivity actually seems normal.
In less than two generations, physical activity has dropped by 20% in the U.K. and 32% in the U.S. In China, the drop is 45% in less than one generation. Vehicles, machines and technology now do our moving for us. What we do in our leisure time doesn’t come close to making up for what we’ve lost.

PHYSICAL INACTIVITY HAS BECOME NORMAL AND THE CHANGE IS TOO ABRUPT NOT TO EXPECT SEVERE CONSEQUENCES.

This year, 5.3 million deaths will be ?attributed to physical inactivity. Smoking is ?responsible for 5 million deaths per year.

THE ECONOMIC ?COSTS ARE UNACCEPTABLE
The cost of physical inactivity drains economies. By 2030, the direct costs alone in China and India will each increase by more than 450 percent. To put these increases in context, the 2030 annual direct costs are expected to be more than China’s current health care budget, and nearly four times what India currently spends on secondary education in a year.

THE HUMAN COSTS ?ARE UNFORGIVABLE
Today’s kids are dropping out of sport and play early. Between ages 9 and 15, American and European kids’ activity levels drop by 50-75 percent. In China, 92 percent of kids get no physical activity outside of school.
These inactive kids score up to 40 percent lower on achievement tests than their active friends. Today, sports, physical activity and physical education are seen as optional or extra-curricular, rather than the powerful investments that they are. Today’s 10 year olds are the first generation expected to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents.

The science is clear. Physical activity does more than create good health. It contributes to leadership, productivity and innovation. It lowers depression and crime, increases education and income levels, and generates return to businesses. It unleashes human potential, and this is what drives economies forward.

A CRITICAL WINDOW
Nature made children perpetual motion machines for a reason. As they head into adolescence, children draw the blueprints for their adult lives. Not just their adult bodies, but their adult intellect, character, emotional resilience and social skills.

IT’S TIME FOR ACTION
No one can fix this alone. We must align strategies & combine resources. Urgent priority must be given to dramatically increase the world’s commitment to physical activity.

DESIGNED TO MOVE offers consensus on the path forward – a single vision: Future generations running, jumping and kicking to reach their greatest potential. A new normal.