Movement, health and quality of life for senior citizens - Prerequisites, approaches, concepts

Abstract

In most of industrialized countries societies are aging. Today already more than 35% of the German population is over 50 years old and the average age is still increasing. As the percentage of seniors in our society is growing, the financial load on the working part of the society also increases due to the pension fund contributions and due to the high medical expenditures for elderly people. The costs for medication could drastically be reduced by regular physical exercises. To promote the positive effects of exercises for elderly people appropriate devices for training are required. Therefore we will present some research about what sports devices should be like that are especially designed for the needs of senior citizens, and on this basis introduce a few concepts of innovative developments that could serve as pilot projects paving the way for more physical activities of senior citizens. © 2006 Springer-Verlag New York.