The Importance of Physical Fitness and Adaptive Sports

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my name is Feranmi Okanlami

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affectionately known as Dr O i'm an

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assistant professor of family medicine

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physical medicine and rehabilitation and

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urology at Michigan Medicine and the

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interim director of services for

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students with disabilities and the

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director of adaptive sports and fitness

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in the division of student life at the

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University of Michigan as an assistant

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professor of family medicine physical

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medicine rehabilitation and urology and

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the director of the adaptive sports and

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fitness program at the University of

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Michigan i want to make sure that

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everybody knows that being physically

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active is one of the most important

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things you can do for your

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life i ran track and field in college

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and was an all-American athlete at

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Stanford running the triple jump and

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almost qualifying for the Olympics

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before coming to medical school

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i ended up matching into orthopedic

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surgery residency at Yale and and that

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is a profession where people feel as

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though your physical abilities really

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dictate how you can be as a

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surgeon during that time however I

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experienced a spinal cord injury which

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then paralyzed me from my chest down and

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left me with very minimal use of my

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upper

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extremities now many people ask after

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that it's impossible to be an athlete

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anymore correct it's impossible to stay

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physically fit and active now that's not

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true because the world of adaptive

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sports is the opportunity that everyone

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has to be able to participate in sports

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together

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the ability to play sports that use

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modified equipment to allow people of

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all physical abilities whether you're an

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amputee have a spinal cord injury

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spinobifida low vision deaf or hard of

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hearing sport and physical activity

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should be accessible to all and the

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world of adaptive sports and fitness

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allows that as a physician we know the

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importance of regular physical

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activity but unfortunately not

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everywhere provides equal access to

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people with physical

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disabilities but luckily what we have

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been able to do is to demonstrate that

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individuals with physical disabilities

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have just as much of an interest a

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desire and a need for physical activity

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and some of the things we've been

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working on are trying to show people how

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to do this we've created something

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called staying fit while staying put

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which came up during this covid 19 pandemic

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because gyms across the country and

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world were closed so whether you had a

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physical disability or not it was

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difficult to get into some of the

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facilities you were used to and get

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physical

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activity now these are barriers and

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hurdles that individuals with

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disabilities have had long before the covid

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19 pandemic and what we did was we

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created a series of workouts that showed

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people how they could exactly stay fit

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while staying put whether that staying

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put means staying in your chair staying

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in your home and not going outside and

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for people that have limited mobility or

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limited access to facilities there's

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still things that you can do in your

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home to be able to stay fit

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and so we tell people just being able to

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get some sort of vigorous physical

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activity whether you're using a device

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that's sits on your desk and you're

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pedaling with your arms whether you use

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thera bands in your house and attach them

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to to fix structures and are able to

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pull against them with some resistance

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whether you're playing a video game that

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has one of the the motion sensor devices

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that allows you to then be physically

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active with your family while playing

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games all of these things are still some

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access and some ability to be physically

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fit now if you have the opportunity to

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to engage in some sort of outdoor

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activity or

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sport do not let disability limit you

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wheelchair basketball wheelchair tennis

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seated volleyball ambulatory track and

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field bocci ball goal ball there's so

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many different adaptive sports and

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inclusive recreation initiatives that

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people can engage in to allow them to

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stay fit and I think what's important

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for people to realize is that just

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because someone looks different than you

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doesn't mean that they do not have the

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same desires for competition it doesn't

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mean that they don't like sports or want

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to play sports but I also let people

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know that sports aren't the only way

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that one can stay physically active

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there are activities you can do by

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yourself there are things you can do

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with your family that really just get

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your heart rate up and keep your body

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moving and those things are of the

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utmost importance because not only does

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that provide you with physical wellness

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but the ability to be physically active

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also contributes to your emotional

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wellness as well and we all need to make

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sure that despite our busy lives we are

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making time for our physical and our

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emotional health and wellness because

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without those things it's difficult to

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then focus on some of the things you

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need to do every day so whether it's

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playing your favorite sport whether it's

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engaging in a video game that keeps you

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active whether it's going outside for a

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walk or a run or a

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hike or it's playing with your dog

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running around with your child any of

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those things then will get your heart

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rate up will get you active and will

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show you that your physical and

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emotional health can

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benefit the goal then is creating a

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society that creates that equal access

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though making sure that parks have

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accessible trails for individuals with

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wheelchairs making sure that we are

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addressing the accessibility and

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accommodation needs of people with

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varying levels of ability as I sit here

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in a wheelchair today with you I am just

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one example of someone that needs access

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to be able to get the basic human rights

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that everyone else has and I'm so very

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lucky to be able to partner with

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institutions and organizations that have

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made that access possible and I look

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forward to seeing many other people

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creating that access to allow everyone

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to have physical fitness that they

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deserve