Frankfurt, Germany - Franz Simon, a senior citizen from Frankfurt, enjoys using his local playground every day.
When going for a stroll, the 80-year-old likes to use a foot rocker in a forest playground for children and elderly people that has been a public amenity since 2007.
'I immediately fell in love with the foot rocker because old and young people can use it together,' said Simon of the 'cross generational exercise machine.'
But hardly anyone else in Simon's age group shares his opinion, according to a new study by Wiesbaden Polytechnic in western Germany.
The results contradict the current trend in Germany for building playgrounds designed with the elderly in mind.
The study found that many senior citizens find it embarrassing to exercise in the presence of younger people and are afraid of humiliating themselves.
Exercise machines designed with the goal of bringing old and young together are failing to fulfill that task, the study found.
The researchers discovered that children love to test their balancing skills with the foot rocker while senior citizens, on the other hand, are terrified of any wobbly movement.
Simon confirms that if you are not hale, hearty and sprightly you are unlikely to use the foot rocker.
The result is that the majority of elderly people avoid the machine thus preventing old and young from playing together.
But in the course of their study, the researchers also found out that the elderly are not afraid of exercising under the right circumstances.
The researchers looked at six senior citizen playgrounds in Germany and surveyed 180 elderly people in Frankfurt. One third of respondents said they liked to exercise.
Half of them said they could imagine occasionally using the playgrounds - but when children were not present.
In places where the elderly feel their privacy is being respected, the researchers discovered that exercise machines are being used regularly.
A representative of Frankfurt's municipal authority, Manuela Rottmann, is in charge of the city's senior citizen playgrounds.
What appears to be a good idea at first glance is in fact proving unrealistic, she noted.
The study was led by Professor Grit Hottentraeger. Municipal authorities must take several aspects into consideration before deciding to build an over-60s playground, she pointed out.
'You have to closely examine the playground's location and the machines it will have,' she said.
The study was commissioned by Frankfurt's municipal authority and its results have been published as 11 local advisory councils call for exercise machines tailored to suit senior citizens' needs.
The makers of exercise machines are promoting over-60s playgrounds in Germany as western societies age faster and in the hope of reaching new target groups.
However, the study shows that most elderly people do not want the latest trends in wellness exercise. They prefer the old classics like mini golf, gravel beds to massage feet and Kneipp Cures - a form of hydrotherapy developed in Germany .
Mini gold gives the generations an opportunity to interact, Hottentrager noted.
The elderly also prefer safe pathways, neat parks and flower beds - an 'unexciting environment,' she added.
It is only a year since Rottmann celebrated the opening of the forest playground, but in the meantime she has gained a few insights.
'The trendsetting exercises in an aging society will be mini golf or the Kneipp Cure,' she said.
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