Throughout the past year, I’ve been volunteering at a nursing home, and through this experience I’ve seen the physical state of the elderly in my community. Another main detail I noticed in the elderly is their worsening mental state. From these two main details, I wondered how I could help elderly keep a healthy body. This paper is my effort to go through the correlation of a person’s physical and mental state and spread a call to action. 

        A core part of human health is regular physical activity. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state that physical activity can help brain health and reduce the risk of disease. If physical activity is so important, why don’t we see more of it in older or more disabled communities. One way physical activity is pushed is through physical therapy. When most people think of physical therapy, they think of registered physical therapists helping people regain the ability to function; however, physical therapy or anything along that path can help reduce the risk of mental illnesses/ disorders. A glaring problem, however, is the access to physical therapy. 

        Physical therapy is a great way to promote health, protect against mental disorders, and reduce addiction. While physical therapy isn’t a sure-fire way to prevent mental disorders, it can be a protective measure against them. It was concluded in The causal relationships of device-measured physical activity with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia in adults: a 2-Sample mendelian randomization study that physical therapy can be a protective measure against bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Multiple researchers with Phds found, “Individuals who exercised had 1·49 (43·2%) fewer days of poor mental health in the past month than individuals who did not exercise but were otherwise matched for several physical and sociodemographic characteristics” (Chekroud S. et al., 2018). Unlike with mental disorders, mental health is proven to be improved through physical activity. There are various examples of physical therapy being helpful for people.
        It is obvious that physical therapy is useful; however, the problem with physical therapy is access. Most disabled or older communities don’t have the money to tap into physical therapy. Statista, a well known and reliable data source, states that disabled people have an increased poverty rate of by 13% compared to regular people. Many sources, such as the California Department of Housing and Community Development, state/show that poverty and disability are correlated. While the issue of poverty in old-age communities is getting better, it still isn’t at the greatest condition, “According to ACL’s profile, in 2020, 55.7 million people in the U.S. were over the age of 65 and represented 17% of the population. Five million people aged 65 and older lived below the poverty level. At least 2.6 million were classified as “near poor,” (Stevens Y., 2023). Both of these sources point towards the fact that these communities don’t have the resources to rely on physical therapy.  

        In conclusion, physical therapy can be a great way to help the less able/older communities whether it be their mental health or their risk against mental diseases. However the cost of physical therapy can be a general deterrent to these people, the solution to this problem is through encouragement. If we take a part of the price tag of physical therapy through the volunteering of abled people, we can help bring positive and protective measures for the community.

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