Presentation by Dr Claire Perrin for the ESRC Seminar Series on Ageing and Physical Activity - "Learning from the Masters: The relationship between sport and physical activity in later life" http://seminars.ecehh.org

1. +
Practising sports and physical activity
with chronic illness in older age
Claire Perrin & Nathalie Barth
Center of Research and Innovation about Sport, EA 647
University Claude Bernard Lyon 1
Financial Support of the French Institute of Prevention and Health Education
13 April 2015
Glasgow Caledonian University

2. +Therapeutic treatment of
type 2 diabetes
Medication
Balanced nutrition
Regular Physical Activity (PA)
Patient education as a new fundamental component of
treating chronic illnesses

3. +
analyse the process of commitment to physical activity (PA),
by looking at 22 subjects diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, who
engage in physical activity firstly via a therapeutic education
plan based upon Physical Activity (APA), either through a
hospital or health network, and thereafter via patient group
activities.

4. Physical education for health
Recommanding PA for health
Exercise
for the
organism
Autonomy as compliance
Information
Recommendations /
way of life
BiomédicalapproachtoPA
CulturalapproachtoPA
Information
Promoting an active
lifestyle
Physical,
sports and
leisure
activities
Physical exercise,
programmes
Conceptions of
PA and
Autonomy

5. +
1. Entry into an Adapted
Physical Activity follower career
“When I was admitted to hospital, the doctors and
management talked to me about physical activity.
They told me it was a good thing to do but I didn’t
feel it was something for me”
(Eliane, 54, no occupation, hypertension,T2D
(1999), obese, intensive APA).

6. +1. Entry into an Adapted
Physical Activity follower career
“At first it was hard [to come], and then I’d never
been in gym shoes before. It was an amazing
exploit for me”
(Sylvianne, 64, retired cleaner, hypertension,T2D
(2003), depression (2004-2005), occasional APA).
“I didn’t want to be with people who don’t have
health problems, no I wouldn’t have liked that, I
needed something adapted for me”
(Maryse, 72, retired postwoman,T2D (1990), period
of depression, regular APA).

7. +
2. Perception of the effects of APA
“I had a lot of aches and pains, I could feel that my
body was reacting.That was something new for me
(…). Doing sport first taught me to pay attention to my
body, the way I felt” (Paul, 61, retired bus driver,T2D
since 1984, regular activity).
“(…) I realize that in the course of the sessions there
were things I couldn’t do at the start and that I can do
now” (Nathalie , age 54, unemployed former
ambulance driver, multiple pathology, regular APA).
“Those 20 sessions showed me I could still achieve
something (in PA) and that I could move one from one
thing to another” (Christian, 79, retired accountant,
cardiac problem (2004), intensive APA).

8. + 3. Constructing a taste for the
effects of activity
“It’s like a drug now, I can’t live without coming here and
doing some physical exercise, it’s impossible” (Philippe,
57, retired from France Télécom, longstanding T2D,
cardiac problem (2005), obese, intensive APA).
“I was in a state where I didn’t want to take care of my
body, I’ve never liked my body. (…) My body just
accumulated, and that’s what happened when I had my
depression. (…). My face, my eyes, I look after everything
that is more or less passable, I need to do it because it’s an
important part of my relation to others, and now I use
lotions, not out of vanity or to mask my age, I just need it to
have an image of myself that isn’t any more devalued”
(Ghislaine, 58, retired teacher,T2D (1997), depression
(1997) and obesity, regular APA).

9. +
4.The impact of the APA-follower
career on the illness trajectory
enables the patient to gain autonomy relative to the
illness trajectory, is the one from which patients
become able, in certain conditions, to have a
personal PA outside the medical world.

10. +Conclusion
Diabetes networks unanimous about the goal of patient
autonomy
A long term process
Importance of the social experience of physical activity
A professional specialized in Adapted Physical Activity
whose approach to teaching meets participants’ needs,
corresponds to their abilities and is meaningful to them
The question is reversed : Physical Activity with chronic
illness could become Adapted Sport in certain conditions
Practices of the Masters couldn`t be an example for
sedentary people affected by chronic illness

11. +
Thank you for your attention