Longevity Isn’t Just About Living Longer — It’s About Moving Well for Life

Conversations around ageing often focus on preventing disease or staying active “for your age.” But health span — the period of life spent in good health — goes beyond simply being alive. True longevity means maintaining physical function, strength, and independence well into later life. It’s about preserving the ability to move confidently, perform daily tasks, and participate in meaningful activity — without chronic pain or fear of injury. Strength and movement capacity are key pillars of this. And, unlike age, they are modifiable.

Health span — the period of life spent in good health — goes beyond simply being alive.

Strength and the Ageing Process

After the age of 30, most adults experience a gradual decline in muscle mass and strength, a process known as sarcopenia.

This affects:

• Mobility and balance

• Joint health

• Recovery from injury

• Risk of falls and fractures

• Independence in daily life

  
  

Left unaddressed, these changes contribute to frailty and reduced quality of life in later years. However, progressive resistance training has been shown to slow, halt, and in many cases reverse these effects, even in older adults (Peterson et al., 2010; Liu & Latham, 2009). Strength training does not need to involve heavy weights or high-intensity workouts. The key is consistency and progression, tailored to the individual’s needs and starting point.

Functional Testing for Longevity

Objective testing provides a baseline for current physical capacity and helps monitor progress over time. Several validated assessments are widely used in clinical and research settings to evaluate key components of healthy ageing.

Common tests include:

• Grip Strength – associated with mortality, disability risk, and fall likelihood

• Sit-to-Stand Test (5x or 30s) – measures lower limb strength and power

• Timed Up and Go (TUG) – evaluates mobility, dynamic balance, and coordination

• Gait Speed – a predictor of future health status and risk of frailty

• Balance and Stability Testing – identifies postural control deficits

• Strength-Endurance or Maximal Strength Testing – used to assess functional capacity and muscular resilience

  
  

These assessments are simple to perform, evidence-backed, and help identify areas where targeted intervention can reduce future health risks.

Strength can be viewed as a form of preventative healthcare.

Strength as a Protective Factor

In clinical practice, it is common to see injuries that occur during seemingly low-risk tasks — such as lifting a household item, stepping awkwardly, or losing balance on uneven ground.

Often, these events are not due to accidents, but to a mismatch between task demand and tissue capacity. In other words, the body was not strong enough or stable enough to tolerate the load. Improving strength, power, and balance has been shown to:

• Reduce falls and injury risk (Sherrington et al., 2011)

• Improve joint stability and reduce chronic pain

• Increase tolerance for sport and recreational activities

• Support faster recovery if injuries do occur

  
  

In this sense, strength can be viewed as a form of preventative healthcare.

The Role of Osteopathy and Rehabilitation in Healthy Ageing

A combined approach that integrates manual therapy, movement assessment, and strength-based rehabilitation can support both symptom resolution and functional improvement.

Osteopathic assessment considers the body as an integrated unit, helping to identify how joint, muscular, and neurological factors interact. This, combined with structured rehab, allows for interventions that are both individualised and meaningful — particularly for those managing pain or reduced function. Rather than focusing on isolated joints or single conditions, this approach addresses the broader picture of movement capacity, resilience, and control across the lifespan.

Key Considerations

• Strength and muscle mass decline with age, but this process is modifiable with targeted exercise

• Functional testing provides objective insight into mobility, balance, and injury risk

• Improving strength is one of the most effective ways to maintain independence and reduce falls

• A whole-body clinical approach can guide effective, personalised intervention

• Healthy ageing is not just about absence of disease, but about preserving quality of movement and participation in life

References

Liu, C. J. and Latham, N. K. (2009) ‘Progressive resistance strength training for improving physical function in older adults’, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (3). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD002759.pub2

Peterson, M. D., Rhea, M. R., Sen, A. and Gordon, P. M. (2010) ‘Resistance exercise for muscular strength in older adults: A meta-analysis’, Ageing Research Reviews, 9(3), pp. 226–237. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arr.2010.03.004

Sherrington, C., Tiedemann, A., Fairhall, N., Close, J. C. T. and Lord, S. R. (2011) ‘Exercise to prevent falls in older adults: An updated meta-analysis and best practice recommendations’, New South Wales Public Health Bulletin, 22(3–4), pp. 78–83. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1071/NB10056