One of the most important avenues for developing ways to manage and maintain a high quality of life, and standard of wellness, is through having an open- minded perspective. Fitness industry professionals play a key role in both helping individuals develop that broad understanding of and learning the nuances of approaches to wellness and fitness and in the execution through their facilities. Where their work is even more central is as professionals who are part of client’s care team.

They present knowledge that is both valuable to the prescriptive school of thought in medicine and health, as a well the non-prescriptive alternative care model that considers various ways of addressing an acute or chronic condition. The educational background they possess is based on the principles of human physiology and biomechanics combined with the fundamentals of systematic human organ systems. This insight of fitness professionals who are often referred to as Qualified Exercise Professionals (QEP) is beneficial to the general public who are part of mainstream society to aid them on a path to making healthier and informed lifestyle decisions, but it is even more crucial to positively impacting those individuals who are part of special populations.

Individuals who have congenital physical disabilities from birth, such as Cerebral Palsy (CP) and/or acquired injuries, such as Spinal Cord Injuries (SCIs) very strongly benefit from a wholestic and balance approach to understanding their condition as well as the importance of fitness and the different ways to engage in an exercise regimen. They benefit from a hands on, applied approach to the therapeutic and recovery aspects of training that involves for example, stretching, pain management modalities such as electrical muscle stim, percussive massage tools and manual trigger point release therapy such as active release therapy (ART),  done in conjunction with active and targeted muscle activation exercise programming, which targets all muscle groups and both sides of the brain engaged in learning and executing movement. Furthermore, however  another benefit for the individuals who work with personal trainers who are Kinesiologists or have more extensive specialized knowledge of the human body and varying movement or other needs, is that they feel reassured in knowing that their trainer has a thorough background and appreciation for everyone’s body moving differently and also understanding factors such as mindfulness as important to wellness, whereas a medical doctor or specialist of a particular area in the body might not prioritize.

Because of the way that Western society specifically separates medical specialties and therefore isolates systems and specific regions of the body for diagnostic purposes, it is equally important for the personal trainer to understand and appreciate that by them engaging in working with individuals with physical disabilities, they are directly involved if not, the ones responsible for changing lives. Their impact is evident not only through helping to achieve physical goals related to movement, but those attributed to mindfulness, mental toughness, and also the characteristics and skills one develops and strengthens as they socialize, perform physical exercise, or team building drills in a group.

It is time for the fitness industry as a whole and its professionals, to recognize with an excited reticence that the cultivation of wellness at its highest standard and creation of broader fitness opportunity, is in the hands of fitness professionals. It is possible to help others achieve their highest personal level of fitness and overall wellness in mind and body, because of the diverse educational backgrounds and skillsets of QEPs some are knowledgeable in movement-based practices such as Yoga and Pilates, some focus their work more on Strength and Conditioning, and others on how somatic and cranial training, applies to recovery. Acknowledging that the creation of broader fitness opportunity, means understanding adaptive fitness, for those who have physical challenges, is not to be perceived as intimidating, but instead as what enhances the quality and breadth of the personal trainers’ work, and central to creating new potential for clients, both individual fitness professionals and the industry as a whole should be empowered to work with special populations.

The Non-Profit Organization, Flex for Access works to empower both the general public and community who are part of special populations to reframe physical disability by allowing them to engage in adaptive fitness within mainstream settings, and it also focuses on educating fitness professionals on the meaning of adaptive fitness and how to create meaningful programming as part of working with their clients.  It was founded because of the gap that exists in knowledge translation of fitness as a crucial aspect to disability management, and the desire to create equality of adaptive fitness opportunity within mainstream fitness settings.