Cheerleaders help evacuees stay healthy through exercise

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Cheerleaders for a professional basketball team are doing their part in the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake by organizing exercise sessions at evacuation centers.

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Asahi Asia & Japan Watch
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Cheerleaders help evacuees stay healthy through exercise
English Description

Cheerleaders for a professional basketball team are doing their part in the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake by organizing exercise sessions at evacuation centers.

Cramped conditions at the shelters have raised a health concern more familiar to international air travelers: "economy class syndrome," so called because of its incidence among people sitting in confined spaces on long flights. Blood clots formed by deep vein thrombosis can prove fatal if they are dislodged and move to the lungs.

The crowded evacuation centers, which offer little space for people to move around, are seen as a classic breeding ground for the problem.

On Monday, two cheerleaders for the Sendai 89ers, a professional basketball team based in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, held a dance lesson at a makeshift shelter in Kabanomachi Junior High School in the city's Wakabayashi Ward to try to get people moving and lift spirits among the evacuees.

The two dancers gave a pompom dancing lesson to a group that included children and elderly people.

Tsumeyo Watanabe, a 75-year-old resident of Wakabayashi Ward, said the chance to move around had been a relief. "I feel my shoulder stiffness has eased a little," she said.

Mina Ishikawa, leader of the cheerleading squad, began organizing the sessions on March 29 and members of the team have so far visited 11 facilities.

"I am happy to see them smile. They say they feel refreshed after doing exercise after so long," Ishikawa, 37, said.

In Aizu-Wakamatsu, a city in Fukushima Prefecture, an employee of the prefectural Aizu General Hospital led evacuees in a 10- to 15-minute exercise routine, called the "tanpopo" (dandelion) program. It has been specially designed by an orthopedist at the hospital to help give evacuees the exercise they need.

Key parts of the program focus on repeated hand clasping, as well as on bending and stretching the ankles, to improve blood circulation.

Participants are also encouraged to do various exercises to strengthen leg and back muscles to help prevent falls.

Calisthenic programs are popular in Japan. Group exercises are a common sight in public places, schools, and even in the workplace. Along with promoting fitness, the exercises are believed to foster team spirit.

According to a private group promoting exercise in Tokyo's Toshima Ward, more than 50 local governments across Japan are working on projects to help prevent lifestyle-related illnesses and ailments deriving from nursing care through instructor-led exercise programs.

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