World Physical Therapy Day is on 8th September and to contribute to this years “Fit for life” theme Physiopedia is starting both a global running club and a cycling club. The clubs are being implemented to better serve Physiopedia’s mission of contributing to global health with an aim to promote physical activity for all. What better day to start than on World Physical Therapy Day!
The message this year for World Physical Therapy Day is “Fit for life”. This theme embraces the important role physical therapists have in promoting activity and health among every section of the population at every stage of their life. As physical therapists we make a crucial contribution to keeping people well, mobile and independent. This new Physiopedia campaign is an opportunity for physical therapists and physiotherapists around the world to promote the profession and the role it plays in keeping populations active and healthy at every age.
The four key messages to underscore this year’s Fit for Life campaign are:
- If you want to keep healthy, keep moving – all through your life.
- People who stay active are more likely to keep working, engaging with and enjoying life without having to depend on others. They are fit for life.
- Inactivity contributes to disability and can directly lead to millions of deaths around the world every year. It can can contribute to morbidities such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer.
- You’re never too young or too old to stay active and just half an hour of moderate exercise (like walking fast) every day can make a real difference.
By joining either our running club or cycling club (or both like Founding Director Rachael Lowe!) on Strava not only can you stay fit for life yourself but you can also use your membership to promote physical activity to your patients. Strava is social fitness website where people can share, compare and compete with each other’s personal fitness data via mobile and online apps. The Physiopedia clubs are open for anyone to join and we’re hoping that we can quickly become a super active group of international physiotherapists and physical therapists that are part of the two of the most active clubs on Strava. What a great way to practice what we preach in promoting physical activity, encourage each other and do it together!
To mark the inauguration of the Physiopedia Running and Cycling Clubs we have teamed up with our Gold Sponsor and app developer Clinically Relevant Technologies who has kindly donated some give-aways for our inaugural World Physical Therapy Day Physiopedia Running and Cycling Club challenges. Clinically Relevant Technologies has recently released a new update to their CORE – Clinical ORthopaedic Exam app which “provides accurate descriptions, demonstrative video clips, and statistical references from an exhaustive review of the medical literature for well over 200 musculoskeletal diagnostic tests”, and we have 10 of these (iOS, e.g. iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, only) to give away to the leaders in our challenges:
On September 8th 2012 can you run (or walk) or cycle:
- the furthest
- to gain the highest elevation
- to attract the most kudos and comments (in Strava)
There will be three prizes in each category. In addition to this there will be a special prize awarded for the most impressive feat of physical activity. This might not be the longest or highest or fittest, but is for the person who demonstrates the most amazing achievement. Tell us all about your activity in Strava on World Physical Therapy Day. Are you up for the challenge!
To join in the fun follow these directions:
- Sign up for a Strava account
- Set up your profile. It’s always nice if we can see a picture of you!
- Join either the Physiopedia Cycling Club or the Physiopedia Running Club (or both!)
- Start recording your daily activities of running (or walking) and cycling. You will need a Strava app on your smartphone or a GPS device to do this, the easiest way is to use the free Strava app on your phone.
- On World Physical Therapy Day (Sept 8th) set about one (or more!) of our challenges. You can be sure that you will not be the only person out and about getting sweaty, know that I will also be out and about recording some kind of physical activity as part of my ACL rehabilitation as well!!
Sign up for a Strava account for FREE