Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disorder that causes long-term issues such as difficulty breathing and frequent lung infections.
Ben Mudge, a 29-year-old fitness trainer and CF sufferer, has created a specifically designed workout programme for both the mental and physical symptoms of this disease. While different people may have varying degrees of the symptoms, living with this type of disease is a continuous battle.
The app and its content have been developed through his first-hand experience with the disease and the ways that he has found it to impact his life.
Ben created this programme to be an all-encompassing source of support. It offers tailored training plans and nutrition advice, but also community support. He attributes his success in achieving and maintaining his current lung function to the exercise that he undertakes.
He also understands how isolating this condition can be and has already been utilising social media to spread advice and support in the community. By incorporating the community support aspect into the app through his ‘Cystic Fibrosis heroes’ section, it connects and encourages others on their health and fitness journey. Like in any sport or goal, seeing success and having the support of your peers can be very helpful on your own journey.
Using technology to connect the CF community is extremely beneficial as having traditional meetings aren’t suitable for people with this condition. The Cystic Fibrosis Trust actually warns against meetings due to the fact that sufferers pose serious health risks to one another. This is because they may have bugs that are usually harmless to people without the disease, but easily transmitted between sufferers.
Dr Janet Allen, director of strategic innovation at the Cystic Fibrosis Trust agrees with the main concept of this app, and said: “Exercise is an important part of daily life for people with CF, as it helps keep people’s lungs clear of mucus and infection. The Cystic Fibrosis Trust is funding research to encourage people with CF to do more exercise, and work out the limits and constraints on how much they can do. We need to find out the part that poor lung function and having the faulty CFTR gene might change how muscles themselves work.”
As we have discussed before, FitPro is a strong supporter of anything that makes sports and physical activity accessible to everyone. This is especially true when it can actually relieve or reduce someone’s symptoms. We look forward to seeing how this app develops and how it might encourage the creation of similar products and services for other conditions.
For more information about Ben Mudge’s app, visit https://benmudge.launchaco.com/
