Approximately 50% of people over the age of 55 live with a health condition. This rises to 75% by the age of 70. The Living Well with a Health Condition theme develops research that supports people living with health conditions to increase their physical activity.

As well as helping to prevent health conditions, physical activity can help to slow down the progress of disease and allow people to remain independent for longer as they age. Physical activity interventions both support people who live with a long-term condition to move more and address disease-specific symptoms.

We aim to build diverse, cross-disciplinary teams which use whole systems approaches to address the challenges of facilitating people living with health conditions to move more. We build evaluative and analytical capacity for the study of activity and wellbeing in people living with health conditions. The principles of co-design and co-production are a key feature of our research and we use these approaches to develop sustainable interventions that tackle inequalities, reduce the burden of disease, and increase quality of life for people living with health conditions.

Key areas of focus

• Cancer
• Musculoskeletal conditions
• Long COVID
• Mental Health
• Neurological conditions
• Metabolic Conditions