Physical activity and aging. Physical therapy students will cover these topics in more depth elsewhere. The goal here is to briefly cover some of the important points that you need to know about exercise when you work with elders. About healthy elders. Conditioning of elders is possible.
Experimental evidence demonstrates that function and health improve with conditioning.
Conditioning improves at the same rate for healthy elders as for younger ages. A lower training stimulus is usually required for elders. In general, the effects of physical conditioning are opposite those commonly associated with aging. Issues related to exercise testing. However, many deconditioned elders do not have the muscular capacity to fully load the cardiorespiratory system, especially when a cycle ergometer is used.