How Does Your Workforce Measure Up?
Over the last several years, I have written several papers on the impact strength has on health. In fact, more and more research comes out monthly showing the connection between a healthy muscle mass and disease prevention or the management of certain diseases. IPCS’s own data shows that workers who have a healthy and strong muscle mass have 41% fewer health care claims.
How is this determined?
Read Tom’s full blog in the link below.
Happy New Year! With each New Year comes millions of Americans jumping on the weight loss, dieting and exercise bandwagon. Unfortunately, the bandwagon usually does not last very long.
Read Tom’s full blog in the link below.
Muscular Strength Loss Greater than Expected, Increasing the Risk of the Worker for MSK’s!
Thomas B. Gilliam, Ph.D.
Read Tom’s full blog in the link below.
Wellness programs have been encouraging people to walk 10,000 steps or more per day for many years. Where did that number of 10,000 come from and in fact will 10,000 steps improve your health or is the number less or greater than 10,000?
Read Tom’s full blog in the link below.
Over the years, the research has been clear as to the importance of strength relative to body weight in terms of safety and performance. But what does this unit of measure have to say about health?
Please read Tom’s full blog in the link below.
Infectious Diseases versus Physical Activity!
By Thomas B. Gilliam, Ph.D.
Infectious diseases such as COVID-19, flu and pneumonia all have something in common – they attack the immune system. If you can achieve a healthy immune system, you have a better chance of preventing these diseases and, if you get the disease, to recover from the disease. It is becoming very obvious that some form of COVID will be around for many years to come – it is just like the flu – a different variant occurs every year.
Dr. Robert Sallis published “Exercise is Medicine for COVID-19” in the November 30, 2021 American College of Sports Medicine “Sports Medicine Bulletin”.
Dr. Sallis stated based on his years of research and seeing patients and in his opinion, “the evidence for the benefit of regular physical activity in terms of COVID-19 outcomes shown in his study dramatically contrasts with public health efforts to promote physical activity during the pandemic. We should be informing the public that short of vaccination, regular physical activity is perhaps the most important thing one can do to reduce their risk for severe COVID-19. The results of this study define a clear and actionable guideline to reduce the risk for severe COVID-19 outcomes and suggest that physical activity should be prioritized by public health officials and incorporated into routine medical care. We all know that exercise is medicine, and we can now add COVID-19 to the long list of conditions it should be prescribed to treat!”
In April 2021, Dr. Robert Sallis and associates published a paper¹ in the British Journal of Sports Medicine on the impact physical inactivity had in getting Covid-19. Dr. Sallis is the founder and first president of Exercise is Medicine™ through the American College of Sports Medicine in 2007. He currently is with the Department of Family and Sports Medicine, Kaiser Permanente Center in California.
Dr. Sallis studied and tracked 48,440 Covid patients and found that physical inactivity was the strongest modifiable risk factor associated with COVID compared with obesity, smoking, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and cancer. Obesity was also a factor but for only those with a Body Mass Index of 40 or more.
The research is clear that physical activity does enhance the immune system so that it becomes more protective against infectious diseases. I strongly urge all people to follow the appropriate physical guidelines based on your current health status and to participate in the appropriate physical activity each week which also includes strength training.
¹Sallis, R. et.al. Physical Inactivity is Associated with a Higher Risk for Severe Covid-19 Outcomes: A Study in 48,440 Adult Patients. Br J Sports Med. 2021;0:1-8.
Another Reason Why You Need to Build Strong Muscle Mass!
2019 was a good year for new research studies on the impact muscle health has on disease prevention/management. The research is clear that maintaining a healthy muscle mass as one ages is critical to either preventing disease, delaying the onset of disease or increasing survivability of certain diseases. In some cases, a healthy muscle mass helps to better manage certain diseases by allowing a lower dose of a prescription drug or no prescription drug at all.
Read Tom’s full blog in the link below.
Another Reason for the Hiring Shortages!
Thomas B. Gilliam, Ph.D.
Several excellent research studies were recently published that when read separately does not say much about the contributing factors to the current hiring shortages but when viewed collectively these studies paint a rather gloomy picture on the worker shortages not only today but for many years to come.
The first article tracked for over 50 years the work ethic of Finnish workers in terms of level of work engagement and leisure time physical activity. (It should be noted that many studies from populations around the world have published similar results.)
The second article presented the latest obesity statistics on children. The prevalence of childhood obesity in the United States is one of the highest in the world said the author Dr. Ogden. She went on to say that “obesity in early life remains a leading public health challenge because it is linked with long-term poor physical and mental health”. Obesity is impacting black and Hispanic children more than white and Asian children. But across all children the increase in obesity from kindergarten through 5th grade was 4.5% comparing 2018 data to 2010.
The third article studied the impact of cardio-fitness in early adulthood (18-30 years) has on disease prevention later in life. Cardio-fitness helps to optimize heart health and is an important predictor of certain adverse health outcomes such as premature death, heart attack and heart disease.
Okay, what does all of this mean for hiring going forward. The lack of cardio-fitness, increase in childhood obesity and more sedentary workers lead to fewer individuals who want to work or can work especially doing physically demanding jobs. The increase in childhood obesity means there will be more sedentary individuals entering the workforce in years to come. The COVID lockdown did not do any favors to industry either since many people did no physical activity for about 18-months and many of those individuals became sedentary.
There is a solution. Industry needs to incentivize their workforce to enhance their fitness level not only for the good of the company but for the health and well-being of the worker to include mental health.
Programs like the IPCS Physical Strength Risk Assessment (PSRA™) can track the muscle health of the worker over time. The PSRA™ can show worker improvements or decline in their muscle health and how that impacts overall health, performance and safety. Financial incentives can be based on maintaining current levels of muscle health and or improving muscle health on an annual basis. The objective is to prevent the continued deterioration of the worker’s muscle health.
The research continues to show the decline in the fitness level of the worker which will make it more difficult to hire workers who can safely perform the essential functions of the job.
The question is will industry begin to invest more in both time and money to enhance the health and well-being of their workforce with programs designed to prevent injury and disease.
References:
Kiema-Junes, H. et.al. More Physical Activity, More Work Engagement? A Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 Study. JOEM. 2022:64 (7); 541-549.
Ogden, CL. Et.al. Trends in Obesity Disparities During Childhood. Pediatrics. 2022:150(2);e2022056547.
Cunningham, SAA. Et.al. Changes in the Incidence of Childhood Obesity. Pediatrics. 2022;150(2);e2021053708.
Gabriel, KP. Et.al. Factors Associated with Age-Related Declines in Cardiorespiratory Fitness from Early Adulthood Through Midlife:CARDIA. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 2022:54(7);1147-1154.
Muscle Health/Physical Activity/Exercise: Do These Equal a Healthy Well-Being?
Thomas B. Gilliam, Ph.D.
Full disclosure before I begin this paper, I have a Ph.D. in Exercise Physiology and I have been working in this profession for 50 years. So, I am biased toward the benefits of physical activity.
I have read a great deal of research regarding lifestyle, disease, and prevention in multiple disciplines related to physical activity. And as a tenured faculty member at the University of Michigan, I was a principal investigator on a NIH grant to study heart disease risk in first, second and third graders in 1977.
The research in the 1970’s, 1980’s and 1990’s overwhelmingly showed the positive impact physical activity had on health – most of the research was on the reduction of blood pressure, obesity and cardiovascular disease and focused on aerobic activities such as walking, biking, swimming and the like. But at the beginning of the 21st century, more research on muscle was being done to study the impact of a healthy muscle mass on the health and well-being of the individual. One of the top scientific organizations to lead the way on promoting muscle strengthening was the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).
It wasn’t until 2007 that the “Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans” included muscle strengthening as a recommendation but it was only for Americans between ages 18-65. In 2008, the guidelines were modified to include all adults ages 18 and older and added youth 6-17 years. Also, in 2007, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and the American Medical Association (AMA) co-launched Exercise is Medicine® (EIM) – a United States-based health initiative that has since been coordinated by ACSM.
Many meta-analyses have been published in the last 10-years that show the positive impact muscle health and physical activity have on the well-being of the individual with focus in recent years on mental health, including fewer incidents of suicide. Severinsen reported that physical activity and exercise training decrease the risk of dementia and appear to play a role in the treatment of the disease.
Recently, the research also showed those who were physically active had fewer incidences of COVID and if in fact they got COVID the incidence of death was less.
Just recently, Dr. Liang-Kung Chen published an editorial in Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics entitled “Skeletal Muscle: A Key Determinant of Healthy Aging”. Dr. Chen in his editorial provides multiple examples and research to support why muscle is critical to the healthy aging process and its positive impact on the immune system, anti-inflammatory process and chronic diseases such as Type II diabetes. He concludes by stating, “skeletal muscle emerges as a critical component of healthy aging, yielding significant influence over physical function, metabolic health, cognitive (mental) performance, and overall well-being. Age-related muscle loss and dysfunction can lead to falls, disability, and a loss of independence in older individuals, as well as increase the risk of metabolic dysfunction and chronic illnesses.”
While the research is clear that physical activity and muscle health are essential elements to healthy aging and overall well-being, our own (IPCS) strength data indicates that Americans are becoming less active and less likely to maintain muscle strength. Our database of 600,000 strength tests shows the absolute shoulder strength in the workforce in 2022 is 23% weaker than it was 15 years ago and the knee strength is 18% weaker. As Dr. Chen stated, this loss of strength will have a negative health impact on the American worker as he/she ages.
This down turn in the health of the worker can be reversed – the research shows that at any given time in our lifespan, strengthening exercises will benefit our health and well-being. How can the industry and the workplace get more creative to put this message into action and reverse this downward trend?
Key References:
Severinsen, MCK, et. al. Muscle-Organ Crosstalk: The Emerging Roles of Myokines. Endocrine Reviews. 2020. 41(4), 0687
Chen, L-K, Skeletal Muscle Health: A Key Determinant of Healthy Aging. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics. 2023. 109, 105011
Take a look at Dr. Gilliam’s latest blog on the effects COVID has had and how that plays into the musculo-skeletal injuries you may start seeing on the increase with your employees!
A lot of time has been spent focusing on bringing employees back to work during the pandemic. But perhaps not enough time has been spent about bringing employees back to work who have had the Covid-19 and work in a physically demanding job.
In a recent message from “Exercise is Medicine”, Drs. Neiman and Denay were interviewed for an article that appeared in Elemental called “Why Exercising is So Tricky After Covid-19”. This article has great advice for people to return to normal activities including exercising after Covid-19. It also identifies serious side effects from Covid that should be considered especially for employees in physically demanding jobs.
It was not too many years ago that the worker doing physically demanding jobs was referred to as the “industrial athlete”. Remember many of the industrial athletes do vigorous kinds of labor for extended periods of time. This kind of work could have negative effects on the health of worker returning from Covid if the appropriate steps are not taken to protect the heart and lungs.
Click the link below to read the article in its entirety.
Dr. Gilliam’s take on the CDC’s weekly MMWR report from March 8th. Click the link to read more.
Take a look at Dr. Gilliam’s latest blog pondering how we can prepare our workers to be ready to better fight off COVID and other viruses. Click the link below.
Dr. Gilliam blogs this month on the effects that COVID has had on our health as a result of all our “Zooming”. Click below to read more!
A new study shows why it’s more important than ever to work on building a strong muscle mass, especially as we age! Click the link below to learn more.
Now that the COVID vaccine is nearly ready, most Americans will be deciding if it’s right for them or not. Click the link below to read about what you can do to prepare if you choose to receive it.
Dr. Gilliam suggests getting outside for exercise as much as possible! Check out his message and the Exercise Is Medicine information in the link below.
Find out how you measure up in terms of balance and lower body strength with a couple of simple tests.
Dr. Gilliam reviews a recently published study that looks at the connection between obesity and the risk for Covid. Click below to read what the research shows.
How much impact does resistance training have on muscle later in life? Click the link to read Dr. Gilliam’s latest blog about a recent study.
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