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Health Fitness and Wellbeing Seminar Results

Arrivederci

Musculo-skeletal health seminars

John Miller conducted a series of 2.5 hour musculo-skeletal health seminars in February 2024.

93 participants (73 men and 20 women) completed the Health, Fitness and Wellbeing profile.

Here is the download link to the seminar workbook - containing the assessments participants completed.

The results are presented in graphic format, with commentary.

THE CONTEXT

The health of the community is in decline. You only have to look around you to see that a lot of people are not in good physical condition.

Workplaces are at risk, particularly of personally-generated metabolic, musculo-skeletal and mental health dysfunctions being treated as work-related injuries by workers compensation insurers.

Rarely is health, fitness and wellbeing measured, managed and monitored - in the community or in workplaces. 'Fitness' is the word that dare not speak its name.

The following online resources highlight the issues involved:

Feel free to download these booklets and spreadsheets.

health fitness and wellbeing blueprint

Health, fitness and wellbeing programs

Workplace Accident Insurance Blueprint

Health, fitness and wellbeing manifesto

Workers compensation - hard talk

HEALTH CLIMATE SURVEY RESULTS

As well as the musculo-skeletal health assessments, the Health Climate Survey is also included in the seminar 'package'. It provides people with a very good idea of how well the various systems of the body are functioning, particularly the

• the mind

• autonomic nervous system

• immune system

• digestive system

• circulatory system

• elimination system

• musculo-skeletal system.

On this profile a good score is a low score.

	Symptom	None		Not much			A fair bit			A lot
1.	Headaches including migraines	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
2.	Lack of energy and vitality	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
3.	Candida - jock itch, thrush, tinea ...	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
4.	Poor sleep. If on tablets score 10	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
5.	Snoring &/or sleep apnoea. Score 10 if using a mask	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
6.	Crook back, stiff neck, sore shoulders, dicky knee RSI ...	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
7.	Frequent colds, flu, sinus	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
8.	Unsettled stomach, reflux (Score 10 if on medication)	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
9.	Overweight - 1 point for every 2Kg	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
10.	Irritable bowel, constipation	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11.	Asthma	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
12.	Low level of aerobic fitness	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
13.	Chest pain, palpitations	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
14.	Rashes, itchiness, skin outbreaks, psoriasis ...	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
15.	Mouth ulcers, cold sores	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
16.	Elevated blood pressure. Score 0 on pills	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
17.	Elevated blood cholesterol. Score o if on pills	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
18.	Elevated blood glucose. Score 0 if on medication	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
19.	Shakes, nervous ticks, mannerisms	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
20.	Grinding teeth	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
21.	Alcoholic drinks per day (2 pts/drink)	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
22.	Smoking. (1 pt/cigarette/day)	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
23.	Caffeine (1 pt/cup per day)	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
24.	Anxious about life, insecure, apprehensive	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
25.	Sad or depressed (On medication, score 0)	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
26.	In wrong job for now	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
27.	Under-appreciated at work	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
28.	Have poor work/life balance	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
29.	Unhappy with family life	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
30.	Unhappy with financial status	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10

Score

The score of a normal, fit and healthy human being is less than 20. A score between 21 and 40, is considered to 'pretty good'. Higher scores are symptomatic of dysfunction of one or more body systems. People with low levels of fitness and high levels of stress usually score well over 80.

For people with a score of more than 80, the ‘background noise’ of their life is becoming louder and louder to the point where it becomes 'deafening'.

It is hard to concentrate on your work when body systems are dysfunctional.

We know a fit and healthy group when we see the majority of scores are below 60.

By and large, higher scores are usually a reflection of

• low levels of fitness

• an inability to deal with what life and work are serving up to people.

Remember, it is not what happens, but how we deal with what happens that determines our level of stress.

Classification of average scores: Excellent - less than 40. Good - 41 - 50. Reasonable 51-60. Poor - over 60.

Compared with other groups, this profile is a fair result. But there again, none of the Health Climate Survey results are very encouraging. Too many people are in poor physical condition. The average score was 69

As already mentioned, anyone scoring more than 80 is putting up with a lot of 'background noise'.

The table below highlights the issues of most concern. They need to be addressed by both the organisation and individual seminar participants.

Poor health, fitness and wellbeing sucks the life out of individuals and organisations.

Click here to read more about the Health Climate Survey.

THE METABOLIC HEALTH ENGINE

The spreadsheet below highlights the effects of being under-exercised and over weight. Then body is an ecosystem driven by the metabolic health engine.

The engine needs a turbo-charged oxygen intake and good fuel to drive oxygen and fuel into every cell in ths body. It needs a good exhaust system - bowel, kidneys, lings and sweat glands.

The body is a whole, where the parts work together and rely on each other. So, for instance, you want to improve your sleep, work on the system and the parts that create good wholesome sleep will galvanize themselves into action.

Symptoms/ issues / concerns	% of people scoring over 5	# people scoring 10
Musculo-skeletal dysfunction	51	2
Overweight	48	12
Low level of fitness	39	6
Poor sleep	38	4
Snoring, sleep apnoea	38	7
Lack of Energy	34	2
Smoking	29
High alcohol intake	28	5
Reflux, unsettled stomach	25	5
Anxious	25	3
Under appreciated at work	24	4
Stressed financial status	23	3
Elevated blood pressure	22	12
Work-life balance	22	2
Shortness of breath from asthma	18	1
Caffeine	18	4
Headaches	16	1
Elevated cholesterol	16	6
Depressed	16	6
Irritable bowel, constipation etc	15	2
Wrong job	13
Itchy, rashes, psoriasis	10	2
Chest pain, palpitations	9
Frequent colds, flu, sinus	8
Elevated glucose	8	2
Candida	6
Shakes, nervous mannerisms	5
Mouth ulcers	4	1
Grinding teeth	4
Unhappy family life	4

51% of people admitted that were in poor musculo-skeletal health - due to a lack of a regular and systematic flexibility and strength training program. Without it, tight muscles take the skeleton out of alignment and weak muscles fail to support the skeleton as it goes about its daily tasks. The net result, joint and muscle pain (which are the symptoms of skeletal misalignment and lack of strength). It's a system problem: fix the system and the parts will take care of themselves.

The epidemic of musculo-skeletal dysfunction within the organisation places the organisation's workers compensation arrangements at risk, as people submit claims for workplace accidental injurieswhich have, as their principal cause, personally-generated musculo-skeletal dysfunction.

It is highly recommended that all staff participate in a regular 10 minute strength and flexibility session every day.

Even better still it would be good if the local fitness centre could hold regular 'Back-in-Alignment' musculo-skeletal classes, with staff in poor condition being obliged to attend. (After all, the organisation is paying their workers compensation premiums!)

Too many people (48%) reported being over weight. Of these, a number were carrying more than 20 kilograms of excess adipose tissue.

A higher percentage than normal (22%) were people with high blood pressure, particularly those who are on medication. High blood pressure is a symptom of poor metabolic health - improved by a regular and systematic aerobic fitness program, a healthy diet - low in junk food, ie the Garbohydrates (yep that's 'G' not a 'C') - high in combinations of fat, flour and sugar.

29% of people smoked

This is a terrible result. The community average is now close to 10%. It's not only bad for your health it knocks a sizable dent in the housekeeping.

There is a relatively high incidence of anxiety - caused by the stress of life, coupled with poor metabolic health - generated by low levels of aerobic fitness. One of the benefits of a regular and systematic aerobic fitness training program is ,'you feel better'.

An interesting observation is that, whereas only 10% of people said they were in the wrong job, 24% said they were under-appreciated at work. On the other hand only 13% of people said they were it the wrong job. There is work here for managers to lower the level of dissatisfaction.

All in all, these Health Climate Survey results are a call for the organisation to do all within it's power to support a program designed to assist staff to become fitter, healthier and more appreciated.

MUSCULO-SKELETAL HEALTH RESULTS

1. Subjective joint and muscle condition assessment

- a good score is a high score

People were asked to rate the condition of major joint and muscle groups. The reason sticks out like the proverbial in the spreadsheet below.

Specific joint condition	% of people scoring under 7	# people scoring less than 4
Lower back	53	12
Left shoulder	39	9
Neck	35	10
Right shoulder	33	5
Right knee	30	8
Left knee	30	6
Upper back	27	7
Left hip	25	4
Right hip	24	5
Left Lower leg	24	4
Left foot	23	7
Right wrist	20	5
Right foot	20	5
Right lower leg	18	4
left wrist	16	4

Number of people with a total less thn 110/150 = 45

2. Musculo-skeletal risk assessment

- a good score is a high score

Musculo-skeletal risk	% scoring less than 7/10	# people scoring less than 4
Current condition	48	8
Closeness to idea weight	51	11
lower body strength -squat	26	11
Front of body strength - situps	52	20
Upper body strength pressups	65	24
Hamstring flexibility	65	24
Left buttock flexbility	41
Right buttock flexibility	39
Shoulder function	39	11
Strength training behaviour	86
Flexibility training behaviour	87

It sticks out like the proverbial: over 85% of people don't have a regular and systematic strength and flexibility training program. Musculo-skeletal systems lacking strength and flexibility (particularly hamstring and buttock) are at risk of joint and muscle pain.

From the results outlined in these two assessments, there is a good case for people who scores poorly to be enrolled in a Back in Alignment and Complete Fitness Workout program at a local fitness centre. In fact there is a compelling case for all staff to be involved in these programs, supervised by a fitness practitioner who is trained to address the musculo-skeletal issues raised in the Musculo-skeletal Health Seminar.

Want to improve your health?

John Miller's ebooks will

set you on the right path

How to improve your fitness

If you want to improve your fitness click on this link:

http://www.completefitnessworkout.com/

Quit smoking

If you want to quit smoking click on this link:

https://www.fitandhealthyonline.com/how-you-can-stop-smoking/

Lower your blood pressure

If you want to lower your blood pressure click on this link:

http://www.howto-lowerbloodpressure.com/