Participate in research

One thing I think is that nursing, and health care in general, does not make enough connections with the fitness industry and sports medicine.

Think of all those older people lying in bed who you, as a nurse, are encouraging to use the Incentive Spirometer in order to prevent pneumonia. How often do you witness people with feeble breathing capacity who are unable to move the IS even close to the goal?

Now think of all those fitness commercials advertising "core" fitness. Do you think there is any connection between youthful core fitness and elderly ability at IS? Of course, you would have to study this to find out, but I would be willing to bet on it.

If you're interesting in making the nursing-fitness connection, you can start now by participating in research on the effect of stretching on exercise. Although stretching before exercise to prevent injury is a gospel on many sports teams and among personal trainers, the evidence is actually not very good, and there is some thought that stretching before exercise actually increases the possibility of injury. (I only warm up now.) For better flexibility, stretching after exercise is definitely preferable.

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