The journey of a thousand steps must begin somewhere; so why not in Kirksville, Missouri?  That is the question Dr. John Rickelman, co-founder of NEMO-RAAWKS (Raising Active Awesome Kids), is prepared to answer.  With the right resources in place, the health of our society can be transformed one community at a time.  Thanks to Dr. Rickelman, MovNat will be joining him on this mission.

MovNat: A Community Partner

“If you build it, they will come.” This quote, from the movie ‘Field of Dreams,’ best sums up one of the most effective ways to increase physical activity within a community.

If a community does not provide safe, convenient, and accessible areas for its citizens to use as a means of engaging in physical activity and exercise, then how can it reasonably expect to improve the lives of its citizens through physical activity?  Resources allocated for physical activity have lagged far behind money spent on other aspects of health: the resources for physical education, community physical activity programs, and prevention of health problems are inadequate to provide safe, effective, and quality programs.

Safe, attractive, and well-supervised facilities for participation in physical activity are not available for many individuals and communities.  For instance, bike and walking trails are an exception rather than a rule in the vast majority of communities across the U.S.  Many community parks are either inadequate or in disrepair, making them unsafe for use.  To make matters worse, low-cost recreation programs for the general public are simply not sufficient to accommodate all who could benefit due to overcrowding and a lack of resources.

In the schools, health and physical education are low on the priority list and are often among the first curricular components cut during budget crises.

Many people hold the assumption that in order to exercise, they must have a gym membership.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  After all, our species didn’t evolve by engaging in physical activity and exercise in confined spaces!  The human animal is designed for movement, but not just any movement – natural movement!

No movement could be more natural for us humans than walking, running, jumping, or climbing.  Community parks and recreation areas are the perfect places to satisfy these primal activities.

Enter MovNat

Join us as we embark on this journey of transforming the health of our communities, beginning with Dr. Rickelman and the community of Kirksville, Missouri.

Follow our progress here on movnat.com.  We’d love to hear your thoughts, so be sure to comment below!

This is part 1 of a 2-part post on our collaboration with Nemo-RAAWKS. Please look for Part 2, by Dr. Rickelman, on Thursday. You’ll learn about what NEMO-RAAWKS has been up to and how MovNat and Dr. Rickelman’s wonderful, talented team plan on working together to help bring more movement and health to the Kirksville community, and beyond.

Jamie Guined

Jamie Guined, M.Ed., MBA, MA/Exercise  Scientist at NASA Johnson Space Center & MovNat

Copyright © 2012 MovNat

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