A major report on the benefits of strengthening

Welcome to April’s Frontline, in which we are thrilled to write about the Strength Messaging Insight Report 2021 – a joint publication between the CSP, Sport England and Centre for Ageing Better.

I joined the CSP in October 2019 specifically to lead this project, so personally it’s fantastic to see it come to fruition and it really demonstrates what can be achieved working remotely with multiple stakeholders. 

As of late 2019, too few people living with long-term conditions did strengthening on a regular basis, and too little was known about how they could be supported to increase that participation. Responding to these gaps, the CSP was commissioned to tackle the issue. 

The project aims to empower our members, and in turn, their patients to enable them to become stronger. The findings set out the beliefs, barriers and motivations of people living with long-term conditions when it comes to strengthening, and contains key recommendations about effective messaging for that cohort.

Our vision going forwards is to convert all of the learnings into a concise, creative brief under the heading ‘Stronger My Way’.

We want to work with partners to develop those plans, support a sustainable rollout and to create a project legacy for people living with long-term conditions to get stronger, their way.

Both the full report and summary report are now available on the CSP’s website and the key findings are published here.  

Elsewhere in your Frontline,  we look at the challenges of graduating at this time – the benefits that your new team members will bring.

We take inspiration from Ema Swingwood, who received an Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her services to physiotherapy research, and discover the professional benefits of having a life coach.

Our cover feature, marks a year since the first wave of the pandemic by looking at the physiotherapy profession’s enduring role in long Covid.

And this month we hope you are feeling the benefits of greater freedom to see friends and family, as we slowly and safely continue along the path towards normality.

• Sarah Curgenven is the CSP’s Project Manager for Sport England