Glasgow Caledonia University-based Dawn Skelton is one of three international experts on healthy ageing who helped to develop materials for this year’s World PT Day, which occurs on 8 September.

Dawn, a professor in ageing and health at the university’s Department of Physiotherapy and Paramedicine, is an exercise physiologist by background who is an honorary fellow of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy.

The other two experts are both physiotherapists by background and are based in Australia: Melanie Farlie and Cathie Sherrington. Respectively, they are a senior lecturer in physiotherapy at Monash University, and professor at Sydney School of Public Health at the University of Sydney.

In addition to thanking the trio for their contribution, World Physiotherapy – the London-based body that organises the annual PT Day – also thanked one organisation for its contribution: the International Association of Physiotherapists working with Older People.

‘A physiotherapist can develop an exercise programme for you and show you how to gradually increase the resistance and intensity to prevent and treat frailty. This will help to prevent loss of strength and muscle (sarcopenia) and make you fitter’

Key messages for the day

The theme for this year’s World PT Day is the role of physiotherapy and physical activity in healthy ageing, with a focus on preventing frailty and falls.

The following key messages will be conveyed on the day:

• exercise is key to fall prevention – physiotherapists are experts in prescribing individualised exercise programmes to help improve your strength, balance, coordination, and flexibility

• physiotherapists can advise on how to adopt a healthy lifestyle throughout your life and offer treatments and exercise plans to meet your changing needs.

• the pace of population ageing is much faster than at any time in history

• in 2019, the number of people aged 60 years and older was 1 billion. This number will increase to 1.4 billion by 2030 and 2.1 billion by 2050

• the number of people aged 80 years or older is expected to triple between 2020 and 2050 to reach 426 million

• getting older does not mean you must stop or do less of what you enjoy. Healthy ageing means staying active, maintaining relationships and doing what you value as you get older. Supportive environments that promote physical and mental wellbeing are essential for healthy ageing

• having a healthy lifestyle throughout your life will help you reduce the risk of many chronic diseases and improve your physical and mental wellbeing

• it’s never too late to start an exercise programme! People receive benefit from strength training at all ages – speak to a physiotherapist about how to strength train safely.

• injury from a fall is avoidable. Improving your balance can prevent falls. Being strong and flexible can prevent serious injury should you fall. Stay safe and independent – speak to a physiotherapist today on how to prevent falls!

• physiotherapy can help you be as active as possible – people who are more active are up to 41 per cent less likely to have frailty

• a physiotherapist can develop an exercise programme for you and show you how to gradually increase the resistance and intensity to prevent and treat frailty. This will help to prevent loss of strength and muscle (sarcopenia) and make you fitter by increasing your aerobic and lung capacity

World PT Day toolkit

The World PT Day toolkit has a range of materials to share the campaign in your country/territory, these include:

• information sheets
• posters
• pop-up roller banner designs
• an activities guide
• t-shirt design
• graphics to share on social media

An advocacy toolkit will be added to the campaign materials next month. Though the information sheets, posters and banners are currently only available in English, they will shortly also be available in French and Spanish.

Volunteer translators are working on versions of the materials in other languages, which will be uploaded to the World Physiotherapy website as they become available.

With roots going back to 1951, World Physiotherapy is the global body for national physiotherapy associations. For more information, see: https://world.physio