Exercise Is Medicine: Movement for Every Body – PediaCast 615
Podcast: Download
Subscribe: RSS
Show Notes
Description
Exercise is more than recreation. It can be powerful medicine for a child’s body, mind, confidence, and long-term health! Dr Amy Valasek, Jodi Kuri, Beth Gibson, and Will Gibson visit the studio as we explore exercise as medicine… and how families and communities can help every child move, belong, and thrive. We hope you can join us!
Topics
Exercise Is Medicine
Inclusive and Adaptive Fitness for Kids and Teens
Guest Host
Eric Leighton
Athletic Trainer
Nationwide Children’s Hospital
Guests
Dr Amy Valasek
Sports Medicine Physician
Nationwide Children’s Hospital
Jodi Kuri
Physical Therapy
Exercise Is Medicine Operations Lead
The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
Beth Gibson
Founder and Executive Director
Buddy Up for Life
Will Gibson
Adaptive Athlete
Buddy Up for Life
Links
Sports Medicine at Nationwide Children’s Hospital
Exercise Is Medicine – Nationwide Children’s Hospital
Exercise Is Medicine – The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
Exercise Is Medicine – American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM)
Tips, Tools, and Resources to Help Healthcare Providers and Exercise Professionals Partner Together (ACSM Health and Fitness Journal)
Episode Transcript
[Dr Mike Patrick]
This episode of PediaCast is brought to you by Sports Medicine at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
[MUSIC]
[Dr Mike Patrick]
Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of PediaCast. We are a pediatric podcast for moms and dads.
This is Dr. Mike coming to you from the campus of Nationwide Children’s Hospital. We’re in Columbus, Ohio. It’s episode 615.
We’re calling this one Exercise is Medicine, Movement for Every Body. I want to welcome all of you to the program. We are so happy to have you with us.
We often think of exercise as recreation, or maybe something kids do only in the gym or playing on a team. But movement is also powerful medicine. It supports physical health, emotional well-being, confidence, connection, and long-term quality of life.
Today, we will explore what Exercise is Medicine means for kids and families, how health professionals can help kids move more, and why inclusive programs matter for athletes of every ability. We’ll also introduce Buddy Up for Life and hear how adaptive fitness can give young people a stronger voice, a supportive community, and room to thrive. Of course, in our usual PediaCast fashion, we have a terrific panel of guests joining us in the studio to discuss the topic.
Dr. Amy Valasek will be here. She’s a sports medicine physician at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Also, Jodi Kuri, she’s a physical therapist, and Exercise is Medicine Operations Lead at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.
Beth Gibson is founder and executive director of Buddy Up for Life, and we’ll talk more about them and their group. And then Will Gibson is an adaptive athlete, also with Buddy Up for Life. And to round things out, we have a guest host this week who’s going to guide us through the conversation.
And as is often the case with sports medicine topics, that is going to be Eric Leighton. He is an athletic trainer at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Before we get to all of them, I do want to remind you the information presented in every episode of our podcast is for general educational purposes only.
We do not diagnose medical conditions or formulate treatment plans for specific individuals. So, if you are concerned about your child’s health, be sure to call your health care provider. Also, your use of this audio program is subject to the PediaCast Terms of Use Agreement, which you can find at PediaCast.org.
So, let’s take a quick break. We’ll get our guests settled into the studio, and then we will be back to talk about Exercise is Medicine and movement for everybody. That’s coming up right after this.
[MUSIC]
[Eric Leighton]
All right. Welcome, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us on today’s episode here on PediaCast.
Today’s episode, as mentioned, is Exercise is Medicine. And I don’t think it’s a mystery. I think all of us know that getting exercise and taking care of our bodies is important.
It’s a smart thing to do. It’s a good thing to do. But there might be more to it.
There might be more than you think than just getting out and getting basic exercise or basic stretching. So today, we’re going to dive into that a bit more. And to help me with that, we’ve got an amazing panel of guests and professionals here with us.
First one joining me here in the studio, Dr. Mike, is Dr. Amy Valasek, one of my co-workers here at Nationwide Children’s Hospital Sports Medicine. Dr. Valasek is also a clinical professor at Ohio State University, I believe. Joining us as well, Beth Gibson, executive director and founder of Buddy Up for Life is with us today.
Along with us, another special guest that we’re really happy to have in the studio, her son, Will Gibson. Will himself is an adaptive athlete and part of the whole Buddy Up system. And then also with us today, Jodi Kuri.
She is the director of community outreach and wellness at The Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center and leads operations for Exercise Is Medicine. So welcome, everybody. Glad you’re here with us today.
[Dr Amy Valasek]
Good morning.
[Jodi Kuri]
Good morning.
[Beth Gibson]
Thanks for having us.
[Eric Leighton]
All right. So, listen, we’re going to dive right in and start figuring out what we need to know and why exercise is medicine. I’m going to explain that and really give you the information you need So, Amy, coming to you first on this one.
So again, like I said in the intro, we all know exercise and taking care of ourselves is important, but why? Why is it so important? What else should we know besides the basics?
[Dr Amy Valasek]
Thanks so much, Eric, for having us today. I’m super excited about this podcast and exercise is the best medicine that we have today for our body and our soul. It has been shown over and over again through literature, medical studies, that exercise lowers all-cause mortality for every condition that we face.
And specifically, it helps our bone health, our muscle health, metabolic health, mental health, sleep, fatigue, mood, coordination. And so, from my perspective, it’s something that all patients and clinically folks that I interact with, I really value trying to encourage a form of exercise for that particular person, patient, client at that point in time.
[Eric Leighton]
Yeah. And then, you know, obviously working with it there, but how did it, what is it and how did that become adapted more into the medical profession, into medical care?
[Dr Amy Valasek]
Sure. So as a country, we have become very inactive. And 19 years ago, the American College of Sports Medicine launched a campaign in 2007 called Exercises Medicine.
And it is a platform to help clinicians encourage as well as prescribe exercise to patients in all clinical settings, able-bodied, adaptive athletes, those that are sick in the hospital and when they’re able to perform rehab. So, for every facet of clinical care, exercise is medicine for all. And that essentially started 19 years ago.
[Eric Leighton]
Very cool. So yeah, good. Moving forward from there, Jodi.
So, question for you, you know, with Exercise is Medicine, how has that been implemented and what are the, what are some of the basics, the elements of it? And kind of a three-part question here, I guess, for you. So, you know, how is it implemented, where it started and how is it growing?
[Jodi Kuri]
Sure. Thanks so much for having me. I appreciate it.
It started actually at our fitness center in New Albany. And actually, that’s actually where I met Amy years ago, back in like, today I’m going to say 2015. And we obviously, we knew that there was a push to increase physical activity through HCSM, the American College of Sports Medicine.
And we wanted to be a part of that. We recognized that physicians had a big piece in this space. And if they recommend it, patients were more likely to do it.
And so, one of the first things that we did, we started the program, we were getting a trickling of participants for the program. I think our first year we had 43 referrals. And so, we started going to every single-family care physician, internal med physician, and a lot of physicians, you know, and at OSU, we said, hey, we need, we need to get these referrals.
And the one thing they said back to us was, we need it in our EMR. So, it took me about a year and a half to do that. And EMR, for those who don’t know, they’re electronic medical records. And that way, it’s an easy push for them to be able to talk to patients about it and then actually refer them.
And really once we had that, that really started in about 2017. And the, it was dramatic, the increase that we had when it’s, when we got it into the electronic medical records. And then it allowed physicians to really talk about physical activity, because that’s really the purpose of exercise as medicine is just increased physical activity.
And today we have 12 different facilities that we have partnered with. So, we started in 2015 at just the OSU Wexner Medical Center, Health and Fitness Center. And today we have partnered with the YMCA, Columbus Parks and Recs, and various community centers to offer this.
And we have 35 classes per week, every single week where we offer these in different communities and these partnerships where people can go and start their journey to be more physically active.
[Eric Leighton]
Yeah, that’s awesome. And then actually, so kind of spurring forward from that, Beth, so Buddy Up for Life, that started here locally and has grown. So, what inspired you to start Buddy Up?
What does that program offer adaptive athletes and their families?
[Beth Gibson]
Sure. Thank you, Eric. Buddy Up for Life started actually when my son, Will, who has Down syndrome when he was three and a half years old, wanted to learn how to play tennis like his older brother, Keegan.
And Will’s 21 years old now. So back in 2008, adaptive sports were, in the tennis world, were those who were in a wheelchair or those who could not afford to play tennis. So, there wasn’t any real programming out there.
And we originally started the program, you know, just for Will’s love of tennis and wanting to do it. And then what happened is that we saw that providing an adaptive program, we created this program of fitness and tennis. And we saw that our athletes, those with Down syndrome, how much they were benefiting not only physically, but mentally, socially, and emotionally.
We partner all of our athletes with volunteers that we call buddies. So, there was an inclusive environment. There was a lot of encouragement.
There was a lot of opportunities for growth. And we really provided that environment for our athletes to succeed and to reach their fullest potential. And as we were growing here in Columbus, then other Down syndrome associations started to reach out to us.
So fast forward today, we have 25 tennis chapters across the nation. And what happens within that environment, our families, you know, individuals with Down syndrome are really exposed to a lot of challenges that are similar yet kind of different than other typical individuals where, you know, their population are really exposed to diabetes, health, you know, their heart. So, exercise is just so incredibly important from a physical point of view.
And then also, a lot of our athletes become very isolated as they age. So, then we’re seeing that a lot of our athletes are really struggling with anxiety and depression. So, getting them out there to be a part of a team and exercise is just huge.
So, with that, our families have expressed more interest. And we’ve created a circuit training program that we have about 10 of those programs across the country. And then our fastest growing program right now, nationwide is Pickleball.
And we have 14 chapters and we will be opening two in the next couple weeks. So, we’ll have 16 chapters across the nation. And, you know, again, we’re seeing that exercise is just so incredibly valuable to our athletes.
And with that, our Columbus chapter is our incubator. So, we are always experimenting and trying to learn new programs as well. So that’s where we’ve partnered with Amy and we’ve created, you know, kind of like a kickboxing class where we can work on some aerobic, you know, activity to really get that heart rate up.
And then also really focus on that core strength that is so important for our athletes. So here in Columbus, we’ve added, like I said, like a cardio and core class and yoga. So, we are all about providing opportunities for individuals with Down syndrome and really trying to, you know, find ways to, you know, bring these opportunities to them so that they can be the best versions of themselves.
[Eric Leighton]
Okay. Yeah. So well, as your mom was just describing Buddy Up for Life and stuff like that.
So, you know, as an athlete yourself and, you know, working within what you’ve been doing. So, what does Buddy Up and the whole program mean for you? And besides the fact that it’s part of your family and your mom started it, but what does Buddy Up mean to you?
[Will Gibson]
So, what does Buddy Up mean to me? So, like, but it was my family. So, it was like, when an athlete or buddy wants to come and play, I would help, I would teach how to play that sport if that kid doesn’t know how to play.
[Eric Leighton]
So, you’re, you know, helping them out, guiding them, kind of showing them the ropes. Yeah. That’s important to have somebody who did that.
Did you have somebody, you know, obviously you had your own family, but did you have somebody else that kind of helped you learn the ropes and get started?
[Will Gibson]
Yes. It was like one coach and one buddy that helped me. So, one of the lessons they taught me is that how to hit bubbles with my racket.
Yeah. And then when I was little, I had to do overhead smash with a balloon.
[Eric Leighton]
Okay. So, learning the mechanics of it and it’s great. And you still play; you still play pretty often.
You still playing tennis a lot?
[Will Gibson]
Yes and no because I’m in Nashville.
[Eric Leighton]
Well, yeah. All right. Well, that’s awesome.
Amy, as we get back into talking a little bit more about the medicine end of exercise. So, as we look at it from the medical end, who is it that can provide it and what do they need? Is there any special certification, credentials, level of training that goes along with instituting that as part of medical care?
[Dr Amy Valasek]
Yeah. So just to kind of tie everything together, Jodi and I initially met about 11 years ago. And I think from a clinical perspective, I would like to prescribe exercise.
I find it very challenging with our electronic health record to have that implemented as she has so successfully done at OSU. And I felt like at times I was falling short prescribing exercise. So ironically, I was approached to start teaching fitness classes.
And I got my first group’s fitness certification in 2018 just by chance. And it was just, I was approached to do it within the center, and I was struck by the ability to use my medical knowledge outside of the walls of a medical office to really make an impact on people in front of me. And so honestly, Eric, I can’t tell you anything that brings me more joy than seeing folks become successful, confident and feeling better about themselves.
You walk in having a hard day and you leave having a better day. And I have seen that time and time again. And so, for an athlete like Will, when I was approached by Beth to potentially start classes with Buddy Up, she struck me by saying, expect more, eat more.
This is what we expect of our athletes. And I had not worked with a syndrome adaptive population, but I did get credentialed through American College of Sports Medicine and exercise this med credential to work with those of different challenges and backgrounds. And so, Beth kind of put me to the test.
I’m not going to lie. And working with Will and his friends and his colleagues in Buddy Up, nothing better. And being able to teach kickboxing, cardio, core, she is totally right on the money.
Expect more to be more. And I think we fall short in our communities by not bridging the gap for families and patients to get health benefits of exercise. And we fall short with not having enough opportunity for our adaptive or athletes with challenges or chronic health disease.
So, for me to be able to make a mark with that, I think it’s incredibly important. And I really enjoy working with Will. I mean, honestly, I’ve seen him crush it out of the park with his workouts, him and his colleagues week after week, truthfully.
[Eric Leighton]
Going out and exercising, obviously that success always feels terrific and it boosts the mood and it really gets you going. I think some people might avoid exercise thinking it’s going to be hard, but yeah, you go in there and you accomplish something and that just it can definitely make you feel better. It’s worth the challenge of going out there, working out because you do get benefits from it.
And also, to your point about the opportunities and the options out there for adaptive athletes. It’s getting better, but you’re right. More needs to be done and more needs to happen.
I get to work a lot of adaptive athletes, and I’ve run into a few as they’re starting off and they’re like, well, yeah, but I can’t necessarily do that. I’m like, well, maybe you can’t do it the same way I do it. You can do it.
We just got to find a different way. And you’re going to be able to compete and you’re going to be able to work out. Actually, you know what, Will, I’m coming back to you.
I have a follow-up question for you. So, when you were talking about working with the kids and teaching them, Will, what would you tell a younger kid, a child who feels nervous about trying a new sport or an exercise program? So, if you’re teaching and coaching like you have, what would you tell a young one who feels nervous about starting?
[Will Gibson]
So, when a kid is nervous about playing or participating, so I would say like, you got this. There’s like a simple way. If a kid is sitting, you can get a high five, high five low.
Then if a kid is on a high five in the middle, they can reach up. Then put my hands up like this and I want them to stand up and then they can high five. Then they can play tennis.
But if a kid doesn’t know how, it’s like, you do this and I’ll help you when we need it or not.
[Dr Amy Valasek]
I just want to add something to that because, Will, you’re so correct. And Jodi, I don’t know if you would agree. That high five means everything.
I see it in my own classes that I teach day to day versus classes and buddy up. Would you agree, Jodi, with your program?
[Jodi Kuri]
Oh, absolutely.
I mean, that’s part of the, to get people to stay engaged is that the social aspect of it. And that’s why our programs, I mean, we want the 12 weeks for people to start to see the benefits and increase their physical activity. But the part of the big win there is they get to meet other people that they can exercise with.
And that, I call it stickiness, but that keeps it sticky. It keeps them sticky to each other. And then it keeps them sticky to the place where they’ve done the program.
So, they stay. And that is honestly one of the biggest goals is that stickiness is, they find it, they love it. They find a social aspect where other people are maybe dealing with the same things.
And then they like the atmosphere where they’re working out and they stay there. And that’s the win. That is the ultimate win right there.
[Eric Leighton]
So, I got a question for everybody. Everybody chime in with your thoughts. So, you know, with exercises is medicine expanding.
Obviously, there’s more to do. What is needed? What is needed for that expansion?
What do we need to be able to offer? Who do we need to partner with, et cetera? So, what do we think?
[Jodi Kuri]
I can start to speak to this. So, I, I mean, this is perfect timing for us. We just are working on a partnership with Special Olympics and really working with athletes in all of our facilities.
We had Zoe Hopkins from Special Olympics come over last week and give us just an internship of what our EI and specialists should look for with athletes with special needs and adaptive equipment. And how do we handle that? And how do we work with our partners?
Because we bring staff to the program, but we have to have a facility to do the program in. And if there’s adaptive equipment that’s needed, then we have to work with our partners, such as the YMCA or Columbus Sports and Recs or other facilities to help us get that adaptive equipment. So, I think that that is one of the things that we’re starting to work on and really expanding the populations that we see in our exercises medicine program.
[Dr Amy Valasek]
All right, I can go next. So, from my perspective as a pediatric sports medicine physician, I feel like this is a call to action for us as clinicians to try and bridge the gap. There’s a gap between what is needed and what is actually available and resources.
Today or yesterday, there is a publication that I worked on with our national colleagues on tips and tricks from a provider perspective of having exercises medicine prescribed. It just came out yesterday, and we can put the link to that. But it goes over billing and coding.
It goes over options for all age groups from young through older adults, connecting people of how a clinician could possibly do it. I think a second way is being progressive. And when I say that, forward thinkers are who are going to connect the dots.
So, someone like Beth, someone like Jodi, they’re forward thinking. They’re way ahead of this game. And another forward thinker that I think about is my colleague, Dr. Whistler St. Bill. He’s been such a forward thinker, and he has developed a digital health platform called Exercise Now, and essentially that helps bridge the gap between a prescription and how to do the activity. And through that digital platform, a physician can prescribe exercise, check in with exercise, provide counseling, and track it over time. And I think that gets to the high five that I’m talking about.
People need coaching and motivation to understand that they are doing well and they’re doing good. And even on your bad day, it’s a good day because you moved. Any movement is good movement.
And so that is my summary and take home.
[Eric Leighton]
Yeah, definitely. I think having that app, like you said, having that coaching, that connection, you know there’s somebody there in your corner, probably makes a huge, huge difference.
[Beth Gibson]
I think it’s critical for our athletes and our population, and it sounds like based on what Jodi and Amy have shared as well, that this is a general theme. I think people like to exercise in a group. There is a social and emotional component that is very successful to this.
Back to the stickiness, Jodi, you know, it’s way more fun to go to a class when Amy’s leading it and there’s a lot of energy going on and there’s someone who’s vested in you. So, my call to action is we have a class, we have a curriculum, we are always trying to find space and instructors to take this on. And so, I think it’s everybody getting on the same page and prioritizing that we do need to make time out of the day for those that are, you know, for starting new programs, for populations that aren’t already doing this.
I mean, that’s our biggest obstacle is finding the Amy’s in the world, finding the space in the gym so that we can have a class at a reasonable time of day, you know, where we can impact the most individuals. And then getting instructors to have the buy-in that our athletes aren’t fragile and that they need a workout just as you and I do, and they’re probably going to work harder because our athletes try so hard and want so much to succeed. So, I think that’s why our instructors are so fulfilled as well, because everyone is genuinely there because they want to be there.
So, you know, we’re just looking for everyone to kind of embrace us and, you know, take us along on your journey, because we have, you know, our group has the same needs and wants.
[Eric Leighton]
Beth, I had another question, kind of going back to something we had mentioned before where we talked about how Buddy Up had grown from its original chapter and become national. So, we know some of the things that’s helped it expand, but what else can be done and how could listeners support the next stage? How can we grow this even more?
[Beth Gibson]
Sure. So, we need awareness. So, it’s sharing that the possibilities exist.
We can create a program very quickly, you know, as long as we have strong partners out there. So, you know, as many nonprofits in the world, we need resources in terms of, you know, we need financial resources to get up and running, but we need the resources of space and instructors too. We, you know, we have the secret sauce, we have the recipe here, and, you know, we want to share it.
So, you know, those that want to help and be a part of it is, you know, help us with coaches, gyms, finances.
[Eric Leighton]
Well, listen, I mean, this was a great discussion. And I think we all know that exercise is important. But I mean, it’s just, it’s more important than we even think.
And it’s important. It’s important for everyone. Everyone needs it.
Everyone deserves it and should have that opportunity. So, thank you so much for the, for the group and the discussion here, many of the items that we talked about. So, the links to buddy up to the article that Dr. Valasek had coauthored and written, how to get involved, where to get involved. Those are all show up in the links in the show notes. And so, I want to thank everybody, Dr. Valasek, Jodi Kuri from Ohio State, Beth, founder of Buddy Up, and of course, Will, part of Buddy Up and an athlete. And of course, Beth’s son.
So, thank you all so much for being here today with us.
[Dr Amy Valasek]
Thank you
[Beth Gibson]
Thank you.
[Jodi Kuri]
Thanks so much for having us.
[MUSIC]
[Dr Mike Patrick]
We are back with just enough time to say thanks once again to all of you for taking time out of your day and making PediaCast a part of it. We really do appreciate your support. Thanks again to our guests this week.
Dr. Amy Valasek, sports medicine physician at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Jodi Kuri, physical therapist and exercises medicine operations lead at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. Beth Gibson, founder and executive director of Buddy Up for Life.
Will Gibson, our adaptive athlete, also with Buddy Up for Life. And of course, our guest host this week, Eric Leighton, really do appreciate him. He is an athletic trainer at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
Also, don’t forget to stop by the show notes over at pediacast.org. Look up the notes for this episode, 615, and you will find all those links that we talked about, including sports medicine at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, also exercises medicine both at Nationwide Children’s and the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. We also have an article about exercise as medicine from the American College of Sports Medicine.
And then of course, a link to Buddy Up for Life. And that article that Eric and Dr. Amy were talking about, we’ll put a link to that in the show notes as well. Don’t forget, you can find PediaCast wherever podcasts are found.
We are in the Apple podcast app, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, Audible, YouTube, and most other podcast apps for iOS and Android. Our landing site is pediacast.org. You’ll find our entire archive of past programs there, along with show notes for each of the episodes, our terms of use agreement, and that handy contact page if you would like to suggest a future topic for the program.
Reviews are also helpful wherever you get your podcasts. We always appreciate when you share your thoughts about the show. And we love connecting with you on social media.
You will find us on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, LinkedIn, X, and Blue Sky. Simply search for PediaCast. Thanks again for stopping by.
And until next time, this is Dr. Mike saying stay safe, stay healthy, and stay involved with your kids. So long, everybody.
[MUSIC]
