Deconditioning.

Many authors have stressed the negative effects of prolonged immobility by emphasizing organ system changes. When treating individuals for various medical problems, equal regard should be given to functional decline as well. Beneficial exercise programs can be adapted for geriatric populations regardless of their disability. As the geriatric population increases, competition for health care resources increases as well. Emphasis should be placed on community-based programs that value prevention, restoration, and maintenance as worthwhile endeavors. Exercise should be the foundation for these programs and the goal should be to maximize functional skills. The benefits of exercise (Table 4) are physiologic, psychologic, and sociologic and greatly affect the perceived quality of life (Table 5). The adage "use it or lose it" should be heeded by all age levels. As we get older, it becomes more difficult to maintain physical conditioning, which can be discouraging to some and challenging to others. However, the importance of maintaining fitness with our advancing years is becoming increasingly clear. Bortz has stated that disuse syndromes affect far too many people in their later years. He challenges older people to live active lives to the end and ideally compress morbidity into a final short period of life.