Physical activity and long-term conditions
Physical activity has been called a ‘miracle cure’ for people with multiple and long-term conditions. There is strong evidence that it has a major role to play in the prevention, management and treatment of long-term conditions, yet people with a long-term condition are some of the least active in our communities and there are strong links between inequality, multimorbidity and inactivity.
The Richmond Group of Charities is united in its commitment to supporting people living with long-term conditions to be physically active. Our work aims to tackle barriers in the system that hinder physical activity, as well as to inspire individuals to build movement into daily life.
Exercise has been labelled as the
“miracle cure”
for long-term health conditions
40%
of long-term health conditions could be prevented by reducing inactivity
1 in 6
UK deaths are due to physical inactivity
Physical activity can help manage more than
20
common physical and mental health conditions
We Are Undefeatable
We Are Undefeatable, powered by the Richmond Group of Charities is our collaborative physical activity programme in partnership with our member charities, with funding and expertise from the National Lottery and Sport England.
The programme is made up of national and local systems influencing and a leading behaviour change campaign.
We work with a range of partners to influence policy and practice in the health sector and the sport and physical activity sector to remove structural barriers and create the conditions for people with long-term conditions to be active. Informed by lived experience, our Millions More Moving report underpins our influencing work setting out three shifts we want to see. These are:
- Ensure leadership and accountability
- Embed movement into healthcare
- Encourage movement as part of everyday life
We support people to move in ways that work for them through our leading behaviour change campaign. By sharing inspirational stories from people with lived experience of moving with a health condition and providing free practical resources such as mini workouts, planners, videos, and the new We Are Undefeatable app, and we are seeing huge successes.
The campaign consistently engages its target audience, with our research consistently showing it is:
- Highly relatable 62% of people with health conditions agree it is aimed at them.
- Inspirational 52% of people with health conditions feel inspired by it.
- Leading to action 1 in 5 people with a long-term condition have taken action to be more active as a result of the campaign.
3 in 5 people
living with long-term conditions want to be more active, but they face barriers to doing so.
