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"Why so many overweight people on scooters?"

Roundtable Discussion #10

"As a fitness professional, what is your opinion on the increasing popularity of these mobile scooters for overweight people and what message do you think it sends to 1.) the user, 2.) the rest of society, 3.) you the fitness professional"

Rick Karboviak:

"First, before I judge anyone, there are people that do need these due to disabilities and unfortunate situations that have happened in their life. The thing that bothers me though is when people KNOW they can get better and fail to take action in doing so, and end up resorting to a cart helping them out. It is like people who purposely abuse a system, such as health insurance, and purposely overeat so they can get gastric bypass surgery, fully paid by the insurance company. Now you even have ads for these scooters who tell you 'We'll find a way to get Medicare to pay for your scooter". Wow, tax dollars are going to support the lazy so they can move around in 'freedom scooters'. What a mis-named term to use for that! Are you really 'free' to move around on a motorized scooter? You can be more agile and have MUCH more freedom on your own two feet.

It sends the message to the user that 1) there's now another easy way out from being active, 2) it tells the rest of society that --you, too, can be lazy and have taxes pay for your scooter!--, promoting NO activity, and 3) it tells me, the fitness professional, that there are a ton of 'on the edge' clients who should be working out, and to me, that's a market worth saving and giving them some REAL freedom for once!"

Matt Shuebrook:

"Wow such a sore topic...I love it! It's funny, we tend to promote the things in which we want to eliminate. It would be great to eliminate cigarettes, but what happens is they are advertised everywhere. It would be great to eliminate obesity, but what happens? It is encouraged everywhere. Aside from fast food joints, and restaurants alike serving mammoth amounts of food, the averaged American is almost peer-pressured into becoming fat. I think that the concept of the motor scooter is great, but only for the seriously handicapped. Not for the obese. If you want to teach a kid how to tie his shoes, would you buy them Velcro sneakers or give him slip on shoes? Hell no, you would teach him how to tie his shoes.Why don't we instead of making fat people more inclined to getting fatter, teach 'em how to lose weight and feel great? America wake up and smell the fat. Get off your scooter and jog, walk, run, swim, crawl, go God sake, do something. More and more people cringe at the thought of jogging on the treadmill for a mere 10 minutes. Why.... hmm I wonder if it has anything to do with an Automatic America?"

Brian Nolan:

"Tough one... as i understand the question, do the chairs make it possible for people who otherwise would be immobile, or do they enable people to be out of shape? Obviously there are answers to both sides of this question. Personally, I can't stand being inconvenienced by some 400 pounder pushing his way thru a doorway trying get into the restaurant only to see them order a 20oz. ribeye and onion rings!!! On the other hand, my father is disabled. He had a leg amputated and the surgery caused irrepairable nerve damage, which ultimately affected his spine to the point where walking more than 15-20 feet or so with cruches would be impossible. So, now he has wheels. He "walks" the dog, mows the lawn, can go out to eat w/ everyone--basically, its given him the freedoms you and I enjoy.

Whether or not the chair is motorized is irrellivant--there were wheelchairs before there were scooters. I mean, should we question those that ride lightweight wheelchairs because they could be getting more exercise from pushing a heavier one? The question should be, "are people sitting and riding when they could be standing and walking?" Unfortuately, I think the only people that can truely answer these questions are the individuals themselves. In the case of my dad, he would rather walk--anyday. But the nerve damage has made it impossible for him to use his prosthetic leg.

And a side note to this debate is, when i see someone that appears to be using a scooter because they are too overweight to support their own structure I have to think about the socio-economics of their situation. Our society would rather spend money making it possible for "handicapped" people to ride, than it would to help people eat better. Often times, the people riding scooters can't afford to eat well, but Medicare will pay for things like a motorized scooter. Okay, this could get to be a totally different political rant for which I'm not qualified.so, athough I said absolutely nothing here, I think the question goes beyond my scope of knowledge or depth of my opinion".

Steve Payne:

"Humans by nature are inherently lazy. We are drawn to the path of least resistance. Hence the saying, "Never stand when you can sit; never sit when you can lie down. Never run when you can walk; never walk when you can ride."

The people I see who use these motorized devices are predominately those who are not themselves incapacitated from some deleterious cause, rather they have succumbed to the "American" way of life. I do not say that lightly, or with the slightest hint of disdain for my country. They are a product of their environment. They have, in other words, done it to themselves; either by neglect, slovenliness or some other means of self destruction.

As for our way of life, here is what I mean: Because we as a nation have been so blessed, we have lost sight of our responsibility to maintain the first line of defense: our very health. We have become a country of "convenience" seekers. Remote controls for our abundance of televisions has eliminated the need to walk across the room to change the channel. Keyless entry systems for our vehicles has allowed us to eliminate having to struggle to find the keyhole and, heaven forbid, exert ourselves and turn a key. Speed dial for the phone so we don't have to work so hard to dial Pizza Hut. We've even found a way to remove mental stress and strain by watching, on average, seven hours of television a day, thereby eliminating the need to think for ourselves. Rather than read a book, we have someone else tell us what to think or simply watch others working out.

Improvements in sanitation, nutrition, and medical science have been responsible for steady increases in longevity throughout modern history. This has been the case for virtually every country on earth, and it's a trend that's likely to continue - except in the United States. According to a University of Illinois study published in the New England Journal of Medicine the average American's lifespan could decrease by as much as five years in the coming decades. In the words of the author of the study, S. Jay Olshansky, "This is not based on speculation ... or unforeseen events, it is based on the future of American health that we can observe today among the very people who will express the health and life expectancy of the future: today's children."

But, how could this be? After all, the U.S. leads the world in the development of "wonder" drugs, high-tech surgeries, and technology for the early detection of disease. It's because we're too fat. More than 60% of adults and 30% of children are overweight or obese, putting themselves at a higher risk of cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and a variety of other illnesses. And it is having an impact on folks mobility, so rather than train and eat right, just get a little motorized cart. That way you don't have to change your life, you can cruise your way, in comfort, ease and style, to an early death.

Overcoming this phenomenon is not likely to happen. People, like I said before, are inherently lazy. Working out, eating right and maintaining your health takes effort, determination and discipline. Sadly, most of those qualities are far from inherent in the bulk of the population."

Chris Blake:

"I, too, have made this same exact observation just recently and kind of put in on the back burner of my mind....And then recently when viewing Lilo and Stitch (a very popular Disney movie that my son loves to watch) I noticed that every beach scene had obese people in it. Every single scene...whether or not Disney what trying to animate reality is there in the background. It's not the kind of message I want my son to be learning early in life...that it is the "norm" to be that obese and it is o.k. to be this way. Unless you have a specific condition that doesn't allow you to be mobile it is not o.k. to use modern advances in technology to the extreme! We are human beings and we as a nation (US) are slowly killing ourselves. Take a look at where we compare to other nations as far as health, education, and technology. I dare you to do an internet search for this information. The reality is we are in serious trouble....serious trouble. Former President Clinton in a recent speech for the American Heart Association stated that our childrens state of life and longevity is so poor that our kids will not outlive the live expectancy of their parents. If this doesn't strike a nerve in your body to want to do something about it...then I don't know what will. I, for one, have decided that enough is enough. My life and my business will be committed to changing our nations way of life. Pro Athletic Training and Development will be working not only with the athletic population, but also with the unathletic population....the population that was left out when youth athletics started becoming competetive instead of fun....when winning became more important than the whole concept of sport and play.....when kids started turning away from playing because they were told that they weren't good enough to play.....when school budgets started cutting down and then eventually cutting out physical education and after school/recreational programs.....now is the time to get involved. We can't wait for another day or a better time to get started. Right here.....right now!"

Vince Burke:

"If it is for transportation and economics is one thing, but often the buying �JDE� (J: JUSTIFICATION, D: DENIAL & E: EXCUSES) is �I DON�T HAVE TO WALK�. Does it matter the size of the person? No, it is a poor health decision! In my neighborhood, I see thin, young, walking able bodies use them. The bottom line is we are lazier and unhealthy because of the poor health decisions we make and this is just another one we are seeing. However, the most concerning issue to me is when I see the young able bodies use them. Aside for the safety and environmental issues, such as accidents and air pollution, riding these scooters only burns less human calories and more of the needed and expensive gas.

When I see these �passive rides� come out on the market it only confirms that we as a society are supporting, craving and will buy anything that will �drive us�. Like the fast food places �driving us� to the doctors, hospital and eventually to the grave. Well, I view this as nothing different, only say, �we now can drive our lazy selves to the fast food joint around the block with the family motor scooter�.

Over the last century we have become a �push the button� society from the computers to the �drive us� everywhere country leaving us to be one of the unhealthiest countries in the world relative to our resources and wealth. We, as a society, typically sit at work, order lunch in, pick up dinner, hire lawn people, higher playmates for our children, use machines to breath for us at night (obese apnea) and know the cute ride motorized ride on scooters.

The question is what is next? I have a feeling two things:

I. A documentary against the manufactures for these �passive� ride-on machines just like the movie �OVER SIZE ME� (against McDonalds).

II. A parent suing the manufacture because the motorized bike does not say� �riding this does not meet the recommended daily activity health requirements and may cause obesity, hypertension, diabetes and lung cancer (fumes) if driven frequently according to the United States General Surgeon�.

As for me being a therapist and trainer, I am very saddened to see our society make so many poor health decisions especially the ones that are an example for our youth. I can only hope this will change. What I do now however is I will try to make some small �good health change� for a healthier and longer quality of life, in not only my family and clients, but for all that am around me."

John Izzo:

"I have to admit, this is the most passionate response I have recieved from the Roundtable panelists in a long time. After reading all your posts, all I feel is passion and commitment. Commitment to change and help change others. I went to Walmart today and I counted...7 people on scooters, 5 overweight. It saddens me that these people have reached an absoultion in their life, that they feel they can do nothing to contradict their current lifestyle. The scooter is a band-aid. The scooter is a short-cut. The scooter is an improvision. These people have accepted defeat and have modified their daily lives, and ultimately, the human body's primal goal of function: walking, standing, running. All for the expense of eating poorly, poor time management, inadequate physical activity, and lack of perceived consequence. Thank you Roundtable."

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