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Physical Activity and the Ageing Body

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The Palgrave Handbook of Ageing and Physical Activity Promotion

Abstract

Understanding experiences of physical activity (PA) as we age requires an engagement with the ageing body. The purpose of this chapter is to explore the complexities of negotiating PA as we physically age and to consider what are appropriate ways of putting the ageing body into movement. Firstly, we present a brief outline of the sociological understandings of the ageing body and locate PA within this. We then draw on empirical data from three research projects which explore PA in older people. Before promoting PA to older people, we must understand that becoming and remaining physically active is akin to a career and is a fragile endeavour, conditional on physical, cultural and phenomenological understandings of the body.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    There has been a recent shift in the development of interventions that are underpinned by the socio -ecological model of health, exploring the individual’s relationship with environmental, social and cultural factors. However, these still place the individual at the centre, and in PA research, multi-level interventions have tended to focus on the physical environment rather than social or cultural factors.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Health and Wellbeing, College of Social Science, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

    Victoria J. Palmer

  2. Department of Social Sciences, Media and Journalism, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, UK

    Emmanuelle Tulle & James Bowness

Authors
  1. Victoria J. Palmer
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  2. Emmanuelle Tulle
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  3. James Bowness
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Bournemouth University, Poole, United Kingdom

    Samuel R. Nyman

  2. Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Anna Barker

  3. Department of Physiotherapy, Monash University, Frankston, Victoria, Australia

    Terry Haines

  4. School of Health Sciences, City, University of London, London, United Kingdom

    Khim Horton

  5. Centre for Innovative Ageing, Swansea University, Swansea, United Kingdom

    Charles Musselwhite

  6. Global Brain Health Institute, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Geeske Peeters

  7. College of Health and Life Sciences, Brunel University, Uxbridge, United Kingdom

    Christina R. Victor

  8. Institute of Psychogerontology, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Nuremberg, Germany

    Julia Katharina Wolff

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Palmer, V.J., Tulle, E., Bowness, J. (2018). Physical Activity and the Ageing Body. In: Nyman, S., et al. The Palgrave Handbook of Ageing and Physical Activity Promotion. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71291-8_26

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71291-8_26

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-71290-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-71291-8

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

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