Joe Wicks encourages older people to get active in preparation for surgery

The British Geriatrics Society (BGS) is supporting a campaign from Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and the Centre for Perioperative Care to help people to prepare for surgery and recover more quickly afterwards.    

Fronting the campaign is fitness coach, Joe Wicks, who has created two 10-minute online exercise routines aimed at helping to increase activity levels in people waiting for an operation. They are particularly suitable for older people.   

Increased activity and improved lifestyle choices ahead of surgery help reduce complications, enabling patients to recover faster and return home sooner. This benefits patients, their families, and hospitals, especially during the busy winter months. 

The fitness sessions are designed to accommodate different activity levels. Each routine has 10 exercises, one of which is chair-based and the other is low impact, including side kicks, reverse lunges and squats. 

Joe Wicks, also known as The Body Coach met with Professor Jugdeep Dhesi, President of the BGS, Consultant Geriatrician at Guy’s and St Thomas’ and Deputy Director at the Centre for Perioperative Care, to launch the campaign.  

Professor Dhesi said:

Doing any exercise or even just walking more before an operation will really help reduce complications, help people get better faster and importantly get back to their own homes quickly. 

Use whatever time you have before your surgery to get yourself as fit as possible – try to eat well, stop smoking, reduce drinking and importantly build as much movement as possible into your day.  

Walk up your stairs a few times a day, pop to the corner shop, do some exercises with your family members – anything that will increase your activity levels. Doing this for even a few minutes a day, two weeks before your operation can make a real difference."

Joe Wicks said:

I’ve always believed that movement is medicine, and the medical evidence now backs that up. These simple exercises will help anyone who is waiting for an operation to give themselves the best chance of a quicker recovery afterwards and get back to their loved ones."