The Importance of Movement and Exercise for Seniors: Insights from a Geriatric Physiotherapist

Mercedes Fernandez, from Mouvement Geriatric Physiotherapy, joins Elder Law Attorney Bob Mannor to discuss the importance of movement and exercise for seniors. Mercedes shares her personal and professional journey in geriatric kinesiology and how she transitioned to working with older adults online. She explains the benefits of remote training, including the ability to record sessions and provide personalized exercises for clients to practice at home. Mercedes emphasizes the importance of movement for seniors, highlighting how it can improve circulation, prevent stiffness and pain, and enhance overall health. She also discusses the role of movement in dementia care and shares personal experiences with her grandmothers. Mercedes concludes by providing information on how to contact her and access her resources.

Takeaways

• Movement and exercise are crucial for seniors to maintain their health and well-being.
• Remote training allows for personalized exercises and the ability to record sessions for clients to practice at home.
• Regular movement can improve circulation, prevent stiffness and pain, and enhance overall health.
• Individuals with memory loss or dementia can especially benefit from movement and outdoor experiences.
• It is important to prioritize health to ensure a better quality of life as we age.

 So, tune in, and let's support our aging population together, one step at a time.

Host: Attorney Bob Mannor
Guest: Mercedes Fernandez of Mouvement Geriatric Physiotherapy
Executive Producer: Savannah Meksto

Learn more about Mannor Law Group

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

You're listening to Advice from your Advocates, a show where we provide elder law advice to professionals who work with the elderly and their families. Welcome back to Advice from your Advocates. I'm Bob Manor. I'm a certified elder law attorney in Michigan and our practice is a practice that focuses a lot on helping folks that have family members with dementia, so it makes me really excited today that we have Mercedes Fernandez from Movement Geriatric Physiotherapy. This is a really interesting topic today and I think you'll be fascinated by it, Mercedes welcome.

Speaker 2: 0:35

Thank you, Bob. I am very grateful and very excited to have this conversation with you today.

Speaker 1: 0:40

So I am also I'm really excited to learn more about your work and what you do and how you came to do that work. So first, just kind of tell us a little bit about what the movement geriatric physiotherapy is and what you do.

Speaker 2: 0:55

Yes, absolutely. I've been in the practice of geriatric kinesiology for about 10 years, if not, it feels longer than that, but 10 years is essentially the realm. I've been in this personal work, professional work. Personally, I grew up with my grandfather, who has passed away in 2017. But we were really close. He was very, very helpful.

Speaker 2: 1:18

In my infant years. My mother was kind of going through some illness after the pregnancy and so my grandfather really stepped in and from there we created a bond and so over my years of education and academics, I started to create some different companies. So my first company I guess you can call it was right out of college. I graduated with an exercise science bachelor's degree. It was right out of college, I graduated with an exercise science bachelor's degree. So it was essentially personal training, kind of learning that aspect and at that point I knew that I wanted to work with seniors, I wanted to work with individuals with disabilities, and so over the generations and over years of working with different types of people, I have now settled into working specifically with older adults online. Especially post-COVID era gave us the ability so that I can now work with many people in different parts of the world doing what I love the most, and that's movement.

Speaker 1: 2:19

That's. You know. The really interesting part of that is that you're able to do this with people throughout the world. That's fascinating, you know. The really interesting part of that is that you're able to do this with people throughout the world. That's fascinating. You know, one of the things that we have in common is that from an early age, we both had this affection and passion for helping seniors. My parents were a little older when I was born and I was the youngest, and they had a passion for helping and volunteering at a senior center and they dragged me with them all the time. So from an age of about two to three years old, I was hanging around people that were in their 70s and 80s and I've just always had that connection, and I appreciate the story about your grandfather. Tell me more about how this works from a standpoint of you doing this worldwide, that you can do it remotely. I'd like to hear more about how that works.

Speaker 2: 3:11

Yes, and the beauty of what I found with remote work. Essentially, what I started that first iteration of personal training was an in-home service and so I learned from that concept of what a client and I don't like to use the word patient. They're part of our community, right? So people I'm working with, they really want to be comfortable and, depending on their mobility, it can be difficult for them to leave their house, to leave the space that they're in most of the time.

Speaker 2: 3:44

And what I've worked with excuse me, when COVID happened, I really had to learn how to adapt to not being able to go to my clients' homes because of COVID. So what I found was there was a little bit of technical learning. You know the computers and cameras, but it actually becomes really fun because you can, you can screen capture, we can record. Now If there's a lesson, that, that or a specific movement or exercise that a client really wants to focus on, we get to record that and then I can send it to them and they can work and practice on that exercise over and over again. You know having 10 sessions in the same week. So working with working remotely has actually been very awesome.

Speaker 2: 4:30

And to to to everyone who's listening, who doesn't know? I was able to move, you know, to different parts of the world, and so I think that's been really exciting, and on top of that, I have been able to learn new languages, so then I can even expand more of my. It's really my passion, you know. It's not, it's less of the branding and, like the business aspect of everything it's. My mission has always been how, how can I help older adults, like everywhere, and so now, with the accessibility of online training, it's it's been able to do that.

Speaker 1: 5:04

That's amazing, honestly, so we will let our listeners know. You're actually calling in from Belgium today, correct?

Speaker 2: 5:12

Yes.

Speaker 1: 5:12

Which is very cool. So that's really, you know. That, honestly, is fascinating, all the advances that you know, as awful as COVID was. There's so many things that have changed and that has given us more access and I love that thought that now not only can you do the work that you do, but record it so that people I've had the shoulder surgery and I remember doing those exercises and it was great, but then I'd get home and I'd forget how to do it Recording these sessions makes a ton of sense to me, so that they can then, in between your sessions, they can then practice and continue that therapy.

Speaker 2: 5:58

Yes, it's known in the kinesiology world or the physiotherapy world. They're the same word, it's just different parts of the world that use it differently. World or the physiotherapy world, they're the same word, it's just different parts of the world that use it differently. Um, but essentially the study of human body movement and also known as physical therapy. That's the. That's the big key buzzword um a physical therapy's.

Speaker 2: 6:15

You know, biggest headache is the, the paperwork first of all, but but behind the clinical aspect is that the most important part of physical therapy is doing your home exercises and 90% of the time, a person in physical therapy will forget to do their home exercises because they don't have the paper they forgot, or they get home and they're like I'll just wait for my next session.

Speaker 2: 6:40

So yeah, to your point, there's a lot of factors in exercise and motivation and remembering the exercise, remembering the form. If you don't physically see it or you don't have someone who's guiding you and kind of monitoring, then it's easier to just be like you know, hey, ok, I'll kind of just wing it or I'll forget.

Speaker 1: 7:01

Well, let's talk more about that, and I want to talk about the importance of this. Well, let's talk more about that, and I want to talk about the importance of this. So why you know and again, I know you've talked about why you have this affection and passion for helping seniors, but why should seniors participate in this? I think it's fairly obvious, but I think we should say it. We should talk about why this is important for seniors, as we age, to participate in this type of a program.

Speaker 2: 7:27

Yes, the biggest thing. Again, it's like a I don't know how to say it it's like a, not a pitch. The word is on my tip of my tongue it's like a tagline yes, right. So the tagline is if you don't use it, you lose it.

Speaker 2: 7:41

How often are we sitting on the couch or the sofa watching a really long movie. We get up and we're like, oh, my back is a little achy, do we ever think I should go for a walk? Or how about I stretch? Over time, what happens to the body physiologically is the muscles start to get tighter and so, while we feel lethargic or we feel a little stiff, all of that is actually physiologically telling you that your body needs to be moved, your body needs to be stretched.

Speaker 2: 8:12

Oftentimes, when we start to age and myself included I know I look young and I am on the younger spectrum, I guess you can say, of life, but I've noticed physical changes myself in, just you know, from early twenties to mid thirties, and so I can only imagine, you know, I can see my parents aging now.

Speaker 2: 8:32

And essentially, why it's so important to just you know it doesn't have to be a hardcore exercise. It doesn't have to be lifting weights like Arnold. It doesn't have to be like a marathon. Little movements makes such an impact because we need the blood to circulate, we need the muscles to keep moving so they don't get stiff. Oftentimes that tightness is going to cause knee pain, which causes lower back pain, which then causes someone to then become immobile. It's too painful to walk, it's too painful to stand up. You know, we start rounding in the shoulders, we start to have kyphosis, which is another word for the hunchback, and so all those things that might seem so minute and minuscule are eventually add up to to to the, unfortunately like the stereotype of like, oh well, we get old and we just don't move and we die.

Speaker 2: 9:30

Yeah, it's like that paradigm needs to be perfect it can be. It can be with just changing the mindset, of a little bit of movement a day.

Speaker 1: 9:39

So I'd like to get into in a minute more about like what this looks like when you have a session with someone. But at first I'm very curious about how do you, how do people find you? How do they? You know they, they know that this is something that they should be doing, or maybe their kids or their spouse is encouraging it. How do, how do you find your, your clients, your clients?

Speaker 2: 10:08

yes, um, I've been for for my, for me personally, has been referral online. You know, word of mouth has has been the way that I've grown podcasts, of course, and and um, contributing with well-known media outlets, um, so partnerships and such. But I think that if anyone who's listening it's really great that you can. You know we have google nowadays where you can search online.

Speaker 2: 10:29

Um, the thing that I found the most when I was beginning out a couple years back was that, um, a lot of physical training, personal training if, like a daughter or a son or a grandchild is looking for their parent or grandparent there's not many trainers or personal trainers or physical therapists who are focusing on elderly or elders or geriatric patients excuse me, clients. So it's really important that you vet and that can be a long process process, but I I have feet, excuse me. I've seen since covid there has been a little bit of a shift in the younger generation, who is starting to pay much more attention to our aging population. So I'm saying that in in a positive way of if you were to look in your area, maybe even asking social services if there are some, like silver sneakers is really popular A or P, but if you really want to specialize in someone who does direct work, like I do, it's a matter of doing a quick search.

Speaker 1: 11:33

So then, what is your typical client as far as? Are they typically, first of all, like? What age would be your typical client? But secondly, is it often, or most of the time, where they've experienced some kind of physical setback, or is it sometimes that they're just realizing that they want to be more flexible for their future? Is it usually that they're recovering from something, or is it some of your clients that are just realizing that they want to be better in the future?

Speaker 2: 12:10

I would say it's a little bit of a wash with both, most in all honesty. Yeah, it usually is the beginning, the first one you mentioned. Yeah, it usually is the beginning, the first one you mentioned. There's typically and this is found in research as well that a person won't actually seek help until something happens. So I'm usually contacted by the child or the grandchild or the spouse Because there was a fall, there was a hospitalization, there was some kind of illness in which their health they really had to take a hard look about. Okay, if we don't fix this or if we don't get dad to move, you know he might just fall down the stairs again and something can be worse. He's getting weaker. I've had some, I've had an example of an elderly man who knew he was. He was really ill. He was terminally ill, but he wanted to be able to walk to enjoy the rest of his life.

Speaker 2: 13:07

So, he really just needed companionship. He needed security because his wife wasn't available to to go out and walk with him. So I was able to assist in that in that regard. So there's really different levels, but most of the time it's not. It would be beautiful. I always hope that's kind of my mission right To get people to be more aware of. Hey, you know, I need to just prioritize my health, and what does that look like and how can I do it? Um, but unfortunately it's usually the latter, the negative, the, the. The negative aspect of a fall or an injury is is the precursor to getting help.

Speaker 1: 13:42

Yeah, that's you know. We talk about this a lot in our office about you know. We really encourage people to plan ahead and we do a lot of education to try to get folks to be prepared for the likely future of aging and some of the you know and the possibility of even having some memory loss, things like that. But the reality is, at least half of our clients come in only when there's a crisis, when there's an emergency, and that's fine too. It's just like you say. I always hold out hope for the idea that more and more people will be wanting to, you know, get in front of things, be, you know, prepare for their future and make their future, you know, more comfortable. So I understand where you're coming from. So talk us through what it sounds like to me that you are very customized in each person that you work with. But talk us through, if you can, any, um, what a session wouldn't typically look like or what might be, how you might um, uh, you know, run a session with, uh, with a senior.

Speaker 2: 14:58

Certainly, certainly. And before I jump into that, I just want to say I really value what you're doing as well at the firm in helping that future planning and helping people get set up, because I personally have experienced in the last six years so much loss, unfortunately like unexpected loss kind of not an unexpected loss for older adults passing away, not an unexpected loss for older adults passing away, but almost always if not all of them, were not prepared for their state for their will for all this, and it has been such a mess to see like my family, close family and acquaintances kind of go through that struggle.

Speaker 2: 15:35

So I just wanted to say that I really appreciate that what you're doing here.

Speaker 2: 15:42

So a session, I guess essentially what my design is is. You know I get to know who I'm working with. We always go through. You know what are the needs, how do we tailor, what your goals are, how do we get there? Do you have things in your house that are accessible, maybe things that are not accessible? I always encourage a home safety evaluation as well, which I always which I do, I include is assessing the, the exercise room, wherever the computer is going to be, just to ensure that you know we're practicing safely. And then, if there's a caregiver involved, including them and kind of talking about that as well.

Speaker 2: 16:21

And so yeah, there's, there's, um, the thing with my work is that there's varying levels of mobility, and you know that includes do they have a mobility aid? Are they using a walker? Do they live alone? Um, is there a caregiver? Do they want the caregiver present? Um, you know, is it a a gender? Do some people are feel feel comfortable with someone present, someone not present? You know, so there's. There are different aspects and different levels of mobility in the sense of do they need help? Are they going to be okay when they're alone? What are they able to do without me there, physically there, and without a caregiver as well? So different aspects that a lot of people don't think about, but we go through that in detail in the as well. So different aspects that a lot of people don't think about, but we go through that in detail in the first session and then, after that, we start to. We, you know, we meet, we plan to meet, depending on the treatment plan, and then from there, we always record and it gets sent to to them.

Speaker 1: 17:19

And I appreciate that you incorporate the caregivers. I think that's really smart. What is the average age, or typical age, of the folks that you're working with?

Speaker 2: 17:29

Yes, so it does start with the 65 and up. The typical age that I work with is around 70 to 78. I've had some older clients, but I would say the range typically starts around 70s mid-70s.

Speaker 1: 17:48

This is going to be a difficult question and I'm not sure if it's something that you've been able to incorporate, but one of the things we know about our clients often they have some event, they need to get stronger, they need to get those skills back, and what complicates it is if they have some memory loss or dementia. Do you ever have clients that you work with that also are experiencing some memory loss or dementia?

Speaker 2: 18:19

Thank you for asking and I thank you for setting it up in such a beautiful way. I I personally haven't had a worked with. Excuse me, let me take that back. I have worked but not paid work. Um, okay, and it's setting where a client has experience is experiencing dementia, alzheimer's. However, I have personal experience and academic experience working with with an individual who is starting to experience that. So I can't say that I've been in memory care, but I do have experience. I understand what the cycles are. I understand you know if there's a trigger, what to do, how to back that up. I do think that it's still important that they get their movement. However, there is it's, you know it is going to be more of a repetition rather than a progression of of gaining movement or gaining strength and such. I don't. I'm not saying that it's impossible, I'm just saying that it is. It's a different, it's a different treatment plan, so it's part of it.

Speaker 1: 19:24

Yeah, well, that's interesting and yeah, it's definitely more challenging. We see this with our clients sometimes that they've had a fall or something like that and then they go for therapy, whether it be physical therapy or occupational therapy or whatever, and it becomes very challenging and almost to the extent that sometimes they just won't participate if there is memory issues, and so it is unfortunate. But I agree with you 100% that it's still so important and movement, and you know, even interaction. You'd mentioned about one of your clients that just needed that interaction too, and I think all of that is very important to maintain, you know, a healthier lifestyle. I never say, you know that we can always return to at a certain age. We can't always return to complete and perfect health, but we can be healthier. It can't be great, but it can be better.

Speaker 2: 20:25

Yes, yes, absolutely. And something to add here is that, for anyone listening who may be dealing with a new onset of memory loss or someone in their immediate circle, what I've found and something so beautiful is both my grandmothers actually had Alzheimer's, and both of them. What they both loved to do the most and I got to do with them was just a simple take them out for a walk. And one of my grandmothers eventually the dementia got to a point where she was no longer able to walk.

Speaker 2: 21:00

So even then you can a wheelchair or a walker, a mobile walker with a chair, a four-wheel walker, the experience outside for them, for someone who is in later stages of dementia and Alzheimer's, it's a new experience every time. So, while we've been on the same route, for them, because there are aspects that they don't remember, it's a new walk. It's almost like a child going through like a candy store and then going to a new candy store, right. So it's a beautiful experience to be with them in that aspect of they might not be moving as much, especially if they're in the wheelchair, but they're getting outside, they're getting the companionship and they're also being stimulated by the environment. So that, I think, adds to, while it's not movement, it's still a sense of health.

Speaker 1: 21:52

You just triggered a memory of mine from when I was a small child and my grandfather. So I'm in Michigan and my grandfather lived in Michigan his whole life and there's a particularly beautiful falls called Tukwamunan Falls in a very remote area of Michigan and he had never been there and it was one of his things that he always wanted to be there. But now he didn't have that physical capability and it is a trail and it's not an overly rough trail, but it's a trail. It's not paved I don't know if it is now, but at the time it was not and so we got a little chair and a walker, like you had mentioned, and he would walk about 10 feet and then sit down, take a rest, walk about 10 feet, sit down, take a rest. So he got to see the falls and I thought that was really cool.

Speaker 1: 22:40

It's an example of how important this type of thing is. Even when somebody doesn't have that ability to walk the mile to the falls, they might be able to take a few hours and still enjoy it. We, you know, people were walking by and they would talk to him and they'd say, oh, this is great that you're coming up here, and it was just a very enjoyable experience, to the extent that I still remember it, you know, probably 45 years later.

Speaker 2: 23:05

Yes, yes, and those are the moments that makes me feel so happy to be in this work need to be a younger generation, just everyone, to bring awareness to the beauty that is around an aging population, an aging community. You know, I live in Belgium now and it's a big bike community and I see older adults who are probably well in their 80s still riding a bike and it's so cool and they're out there, they're having their coffee. I've seen a few times and it has just. It just always opens my heart, these beautiful seniors who are it's cobblestone. It's like you know, very Europe. They are walking in the rain because it's culture.

Speaker 2: 24:03

They're walking in the rain with their walker and they are going for it and they just like they will take their time. And it might take them to your point, they might take them a couple hours, but they are relentless and they will keep going. And I just think that that experience, that fervor, that drive is so inspiring. And so I always tell people around me like hey, have you seen a senior today? What can you do to help them? It's so simple to be like hey, can I hold an umbrella for you? And that memory will stick with you. So I appreciate you sharing your story.

Speaker 1: 24:36

Now do you do mostly one-on-one. In other words, if there was an organization that wanted to have you do some work with them and it was a group of seniors, let's say an unassisted living type setting or something like that, would you be able to do that also? Or you do primarily one-on-one?

Speaker 2: 24:58

Yes, it's a great question you ask. I haven't had this question. I primarily do one-on-one remotely and I haven't done a group setting remotely, so I can do it. I actually used to work in many assisted living communities over my years of experience and that's always fun. I had a great experience with getting creative with group classes. There is all levels, so you just kind of go with the flow with it. Um, remotely, I haven't quite done that, but I don't think that it would be challenging.

Speaker 1: 25:31

Yeah, so for folks that are interested in learning more about your services, learning more about you, what's the best way to get ahold of you? What's the best way to interact with you?

Speaker 2: 25:42

Yes, I have a one-stop shop. It is movementinfo, so instead ofcom it's info, and movement is spelled with a U, so for anyone who was like, that doesn't make any sense, it's the. French way. It is a spell movement in French, so it's M O U V E M E N T dot, oh, and let's repeat.

Speaker 1: 26:07

Go ahead, please.

Speaker 2: 26:08

I was going to say you just you find everything there. You can find out. There's a chat button that goes directly to me. You can email me. I have all my free YouTube videos on there. They're, like you know, at home exercises, or all my articles that I've done for for publications, podcasts, you name it. So everything is just simplified. It's on that website.

Speaker 1: 26:29

So I'm just going to repeat that because we want to make sure people spell it right. It's M-O-U-V-E, m-e-n-t, dot. I-n-f-o. Is that right, correct? Okay, and I'm glad to hear that you have the YouTube videos. I think that I encourage everybody to check that out. Check out her YouTube videos, make sure you like her YouTube videos, because I think you're doing great work and I really appreciate you coming on today and helping explain some of this to us.

Speaker 2: 26:56

Thank you, Bob. I really appreciate it and likewise, keep doing what you're doing, and it's people like us who are, you know. I personally like to believe that we're really making an influence for that drop in the ocean that's rippling out. Thank you.

Speaker 1: 27:11

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