The pandemic and the internet changed how rural seniors exercise; now their 'online classes are here to stay'

Virtual exercise classes offer options to rural or homebound seniors. (Photo by Christina Saint Louis/KHN)

To stay fit no matter where they live, older Americans have put remote fitness options more in play: "After widespread lockdowns began in March 2020, agencies serving seniors across the U.S. reworked health classes to include virtual options," Christina Saint Louis reports for Kaiser Health News. "Isolation has long since ended, but virtual classes remain. For older adults in rural communities who have difficulty getting to exercise facilities, those virtual classes offer opportunities for supervised physical activity that were rare before the pandemic. And advocates say online classes are here to stay."

Jennifer Tripken, associate director of the Center of Healthy Aging at the National Council on Aging, told Saint Louis, “We found that remote programming, particularly for rural areas, expanded the reach of programs, offering opportunities for those who have traditionally not participated in in-person programs to now have the ability to tune in, to leverage technology to participate and receive
the benefits.”

Saint Louis writes: "Since April 2020, the National Council on Aging has organized monthly conference calls for service providers to discuss how to improve virtual programs or begin offering them. . . . In 2022, at least 1,547 seniors participated in an online fitness program through Juniper, part of a Minnesota Area Agency on Aging initiative. More than half were from rural areas. Because of grant funding, participants pay little or nothing. . . . AgeOptions, an Illinois agency serving seniors, said last year that their operations 'may have changed forever' in favor of a hybrid model of virtual and in-person classes."

Options for technologically challenged seniors also exist. "A fall-prevention program licensed by Western Kentucky University combines exercise and health education with bingo — can use a printed copy of the game card mailed to them by AgeOptions if they lack the proficiency to play on the game’s app," writes Saint Louis. "Either way, they’re required to participate on video." Jason Crandell, the creator and international director of Bingocize, told Saint Louis, "From when the pandemic began to now, we’ve come light-years on how that is done, and everybody’s getting more comfortable with it."