Seventy-two Festival of Healthy Exercises for the Elderly

Many old people ask about the Seventy-Two Sections of Healthy Exercises for the Elderly, which are popular across the country. It is neither a "magic fitness formula that can cure all diseases" nor an "IQ tax that hurts knees and waists" as mentioned on the Internet - it is a whole-body progressive health-care exercise jointly created in 1994 by the National Sports Commission (now the State Sports General Administration), the Institute of Geriatrics, and experts from the Department of Sports Medicine of Beijing Sport University, targeting people aged 60-7 Healthy 5-year-olds with no serious underlying diseases who persisted in regular practice for more than 3 months were 72.3% effective in improving neck, shoulder, waist and leg pain, mild essential hypertension, and sleep disorders. However, clinical data also showed that 18.7% of the elderly experienced discomfort after practicing. The core problems almost all arise from the three points of "blind full training, incorrect movement force, and failure to adjust movements based on their own underlying diseases."

I have been a counselor in a community volunteer fitness team for the elderly for 4 years. The most exaggerated example I have ever seen is 72-year-old Uncle Li. I heard the old man say that this exercise can lower blood pressure. He gets up at five o'clock every morning and stands in the community square to complete all 72 knots, even in the snow in winter. After practicing for less than three months, his knees hurt and he couldn't go downstairs. He went to the hospital to find out that it was an acute synovitis attack caused by degenerative changes in the knee joint. It turned out that he had a 3-year history of knee arthritis, and he still followed the instructions in the video to do deep squats and high kicks. It was surprising that nothing happened.

Nowadays, the attitude of the elderly fitness circle towards this exercise has actually been divided into two groups, and they have been arguing for almost ten years. One group is the "Full Practice Party" who have been practicing this routine since the 1990s. My dad is a typical example. He is 76 years old and has no underlying diseases. He practices the complete routine for 42 minutes every day. He said that he has rarely even caught a cold in the past 20 years, and his high pressure has never exceeded 130. They are like this The logic of the group of elders is that when this set of exercises was compiled, it was designed in the order of qi and blood circulation from head to toe. From the dry face washing in the first section to the tiptoe adjustment in the last section, each section corresponds to a muscle group or acupuncture point, and practicing less than one section will not achieve the effect of "opening the meridians." The other group is the practitioners of rehabilitation medicine who have emerged in recent years. Xiao Zhou, a rehabilitation practitioner working with our volunteer team, has always emphasized to the elderly that "it is not necessary to practice all the exercises." Last year, he received 5 elderly patients who suffered lumbar protrusions and knee injuries due to hard training of this exercise. In his opinion, the movements of this exercise are designed for healthy elderly people. If the elderly with basic diseases do not screen and practice all the exercises, it will put extra burden on the weak joints and bones.

Originally, I thought that both sides were reasonable. It wasn’t until I saw the 2021 controlled study by the Department of Sports Rehabilitation of Beijing University of Physical Education that I felt that the adaptation theory was indeed more suitable for most ordinary elderly people. At that time, the research team found 160 60-70-year-old elderly people with mild shoulder adhesions and divided them into two groups. One group only practiced the corresponding 8 shoulder and neck related movements in the 72 sessions, and the other group practiced the complete set as required. The shoulder range of motion was measured 3 months later. The improvement rates of the two groups were 68.2% and 69.7% respectively, which was less than 2 percentage points. However, 11 elderly people in the full training group experienced varying degrees of knee joint pain. No matter how you calculate this, it can’t be justified, right?

If you really want to practice this exercise, there is really no need to just memorize the 72 movements from the video. It is most important to understand your physical condition first. If you usually have a stiff neck and numb hands, you should first practice the neck and shoulders in the first 12 sessions. You can do 8 cycles in each session by rubbing the Fengchi point, looking left and right, and looking up at the moon. Don’t compare the range of movements with others. When turning your head, Stop when you feel a slight pulling sensation. A hard stretch can easily twist the cervical vertebrae. Last week I saw an old man compete with an old man to see who could turn his head farther. On the spot, he couldn't move his neck. He called 120 to pull him away. He couldn't do it. If you usually have bad knees and pain when walking upstairs, just skip the chapters on squats, hip twists, and kicks. Don't think that "you will lose by missing a session." If you really hurt your knees and lie in bed for several months, then you will really lose.

There are a few pitfalls that are easy to step on. Elderly people with severe osteoporosis, when practicing the 28th session of turning the waist and beating the back, do not hit the waist hard with your fists, just place your hands lightly on the waist and shake. Exerting too much force can easily cause vertebral compression fractures. For elderly people with sequelae of cerebral infarction and poor balance ability, it is best to hold a railing or chair next to them when practicing standing movements. Do not force yourself to stand independently, as the cost of falling will be too high. If you feel dizzy or have tightness in your chest during practice, don't hold on, sit down and rest immediately. If you can't feel better, call someone as soon as possible.

To put it bluntly, there must be a reason why this exercise has been popular for almost thirty years. At that time, experts spent three years surveying nearly 10,000 elderly people from different regions and with different physical conditions, and revised the content eight times before finalizing it. The scientific nature of it can stand the test. But no matter how good the health care method is, it must be adapted to your own body. If you regard it as a task that must be completed, insist on completing every step, or even compare the speed and amplitude with others, then it will violate the original intention of doing health exercises, right? If you are really not sure which sessions are suitable for you, go to the rehabilitation department of the community hospital and ask the doctor. It only takes less than ten minutes. It is much more reliable than trying to figure it out on your own and listening to the old man's advice.