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The Exercise is Medicine® Active Aging Initiative: Aligning Healthcare, Exercise Professionals and Community
Paige Denison1, Elizabeth A Joy2, Mark Stoutenberg3,4
1Sound Generations, Seattle, WA.
Current Sports Medicine Reports
|August 5, 2026
Summary
Promoting physical activity (PA) is crucial for aging well and reducing disease. The Exercise is Medicine® Active Aging initiative integrates clinical care with community programs to boost PA in older adults.
Area of Science:
- Gerontology
- Public Health
- Exercise Science
Background:
- Global populations are aging, increasing the need for strategies to enhance functional longevity and mitigate age-related diseases.
- Physical activity (PA) offers significant benefits for older adults across multiple health domains, yet participation rates are insufficient.
- Barriers to PA include social, environmental, and policy-related factors, hindering widespread engagement among seniors.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce the Exercise is Medicine® Active Aging initiative, designed to increase PA engagement in older adults.
- To outline the initiative's structure, including priority goals and cross-cutting themes, aimed at integrating PA into aging care.
- To advocate for embedding PA into aging care models to cultivate a sustainable culture of active aging.
Main Methods:
- Synthesizing current evidence on the benefits of PA for older adults.
- Analyzing implementation barriers to PA promotion in aging populations.
- Identifying future research priorities for enhancing active aging strategies.
Main Results:
- The Exercise is Medicine® Active Aging initiative provides a framework for increasing PA in older adults.
- Integration into clinical care and community-based programming are key components of the initiative.
- Evidence supports the benefits of PA, but barriers to participation require systematic solutions.
Conclusions:
- Embedding PA into aging care models is essential for promoting functional longevity.
- The Exercise is Medicine® Active Aging initiative offers a viable approach to overcome participation barriers.
- Further research is needed to optimize strategies for fostering a sustainable culture of active aging.
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Definition
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Purposes
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Definition
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Purposes
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