Making Exercise Work in Diabetes Care: In Water or On Land William G. "Guy" Hornsby, Jr., Ph.D., C.D.E. - West Virginia University

There are approximately 24 million people with diabetes in the United States and almost 95% of these individuals have the insulin-resistant, type 2, form of the disease. There are also an estimated 57 million with pre-diabetes with an increased cardiovascular disease risk and a strong likelihood for developing diabetes. Exercise has been shown to improve insulin sensitivity in these patients, but compliance to exercise has been extremely poor. Previous studies of exercise training in type 2 diabetes have used traditional land-based exercise. Currently, there is no literature evaluating the benefits of aquatic exercise in this population.

This presentation will present current recommendations on exercise in diabetes care with a special emphasis on how water exercise may have specific benefits for those with diabetes. It is imperative for researchers and aquatic exercise practitioners to study the safety and health and fitness outcomes of training programs in water for diabetes health care professionals to accept water exercise as a recommended activity for their 81 million patients.

Biographical Information:

Dr. Hornsby is Chair of the Diabetes Exercise and Sports Association Board of Directors and past Program Chair of the American Diabetes Association Council on Exercise. He is a Certified Diabetes Educator and is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine. Dr. Hornsby is an Associate Professor of Exercise Physiology and Director of the Human
Performance Laboratory at the West Virginia University School of Medicine in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Dr. Hornsby was instrumental in the founding of a special emphasis area in aquatic therapy at West Virginia University and WVU is recognized as a leader in academic and clinical preparation of aquatic practitioners. WVU has graduated more than 200 exercise physiology students with a special emphasis in aquatic therapy. His research focuses on diabetes and exercise specific blood glucose regulation during exercise in type 1 diabetes and health and psychological outcomes of exercise in type 2 diabetes. Dr. Hornsby received his B.S. and M.A.T. degrees from the University of South Carolina and his Ph.D. from Louisiana State University. He was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Medical University of South Carolina.