National Senior Games for 2001

July 13, 2001 -- More than 9,000 senior athletes are expected in Baton Rouge, La., for the 2001 Summer National Senior Games - formerly the Senior Olympics. The competition starts on Saturday, July 14 and runs through July 28.

Researchers with UPMC Health System's Senior Sports and Fitness Program have developed a comprehensive health and injury survey for the participants in the National Senior Games. It is the first time for such data collection among a group of senior athletes this large and marks the beginning of a formal collaboration between UPMC and the National Senior Games Association (NSGA) to develop research and education programs that will help determine and promote healthy sports and fitness activities for seniors across the country.

The NSGA is the national organization that sanctions and coordinates the efforts of Senior Games organizations across the country. Athletes age 50 and older who qualify at city and state levels across the country are eligible to compete within various age groups at the National Senior Games. The biennial Summer National Senior Games includes 18 sports and the biennial Winter National Senior Games has seven sports.

``Allegheny County (Pittsburgh) may now have the oldest population in the United States. The increase of the senior population nationwide has been striking as well, and will become even more explosive in the next decade,'' said Peter Z. Cohen, M.D., a professor of orthopaedic surgery in the division of joint reconstruction at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and medical director of UPMC's Senior Sports and Fitness Program.

``The Summer National Senior Games is the ideal opportunity for UPMC's Senior Sports and Fitness Program and NSGA to learn more about how we can improve the health of our rapidly growing active senior population and encourage our seniors to stay safely involved in sports and fitness activities,'' said Dr. Cohen.

``We know that with appropriate exercise and fitness activities, nutritional counseling and other healthy activities, many of the physiological and psychological changes of normal aging can be reversed and many effects of chronic illness can be improved,'' he said. ``Even when begun late in life, proper exercise and fitness activities can help older adults increase mobility, muscle strength, balance and overall independent lifestyles. They also can reduce risk for conditions such as obesity, hypertension, cardiovascular and pulmonary disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, depression and psychological dysfunction.

``However, seniors' participation in physical activity can result in injury and injury is the most common reason for stopping exercise,'' Dr. Cohen said. ``Not much has been documented about senior athletes' injuries.

``With our health and injury survey at the Summer National Games, we will collect valuable comprehensive data that will help us learn more about the type of injuries sustained by older athletes, the circumstances of injuries, ways to prevent injuries and their recurrence, optimal treatment and rehabilitation of these injuries, and the factors that would influence a senior athlete's return to exercise.''

Each of the senior athletes will be asked to complete a comprehensive personal health and injury survey, designed by the UPMC Senior Sports and Fitness research team. This national database of information will be analyzed by the UPMC team and will serve as the basis for UPMC, NSGA and other senior health organizations to develop public education programs and further research aimed at senior sports injury prevention, treatment and rehabilitation. In addition, the information will improve the overall health and fitness of seniors, according to Dr. Cohen.