If you think that it is just like any exercise app, you will be pleasantly surprised.
The ‘Walk 10 Blocks’ project is led by the patient/public groups (Arthritis Consumer Experts, Alzheimer’s Society of BC, and CARP). Their goal is to translate what is known about ‘physical activity for brain and joint health’ to the public. The idea was inspired by Teresa Liu-Ambrose’s talk at last year’s Improving Cognitive & jOint health Network (ICON) meeting on the benefit of daily walking on health. The project is supported by funding from ICON co-led by Linda Li and Teresa Liu-Ambrose from the Department of Physical Therapy along with Diane Gromala from the Centre for Digital Media, John Esdaile from Arthritis Research Centre of Canada. The project is led by Cheryl Koehn (ACE), along with Jennifer Stewart (Alzheimer’s Society BC) and Elise Kayfetz (CARP). Technical leads are the talented students from Centre for Digital Media, including Andrés Fajardo and Jonathan Lee. Scientific leads include Teresa Liu-Ambrose, Lynne Feehan, Alison Hoens and Linda Li.
This is a great example of how research partnerships with patients and public partners can lead to improved health.
Want to be a Walk10Blocks app tester?
Join the Walk10Blocks community to help us help you improve your brain and joint health.
We all know walking is good for your health. Research shows that even walking 10 city blocks a day, equivalent to about 2,000 – 3,000 steps or 1 km, can help delay dementia and may help improve cardiovascular and joint health over time.
Arthritis Consumer Experts invites people to join the “Walk10Blocks” community and test the app, which will guide us in the development of the full version to be released on the iTunes store early next year. To be one of the first Canadians to test this app during a seven-day trial, all you need is an iPhone 5s or 6 running iOS8 or later and five minutes of your time every other day to answer brief survey questions about your experience using the test app.
To receive a special invite to download the “Walk10Blocks” test app, please click here. Once you have accepted the invite and downloaded the app, you will have 7 days to test the app. After your trial period ends, you will not be able to access the app. The last available date to start your seven-day trial is November 1, 2015.