Dr Ihirangi Heke is an expert in Māori health and physical activity. He writes about an exciting new area of research using traditional strength-based training from pre-European times to encourage more Māori to exercise.

This article was first shared in the Winter 2012 issue of Diabetes Wellness magazine.

Like so many Māori families, diabetes has had a significant impact on my whānau with my father dying at 46 due to complications brought on by diabetes, and my older brother suffering major health problems exacerbated by diabetes. Unfortunately it’s not so unusual and poor health appears to be rampant amongst Māori. Often Māori are fully aware of their health situation but feel helpless to do anything about it – especially when statistics suggest it is pointless to do so.

So I’d like to try something new. Why don’t we park the poor health statistics for a moment and identify strengths of Māori, especially in terms of Māori health. Some years ago, I completed a PhD in exercise and sport psychology – perhaps subconsciously in an attempt to avoid diabetes by being as informed as I can. I also hoped to make it past 46 – I’m almost there.

During this time I began to think we could progress Māori health more rapidly when we were able to prove that Māori had a history of good health. Recently, through my work, I was able to convince a group of elderly Māori they come from a genetic line that afforded fantastic health potential – ranging from higher bone density to unparalleled muscular development. This helped them pursue what is rightfully theirs (see the Gisborne study in the box at right). It’s a much better starting point for an article than talking about a father dead at 46 years old.

For the past decade I have been teaching indigenous health, sport and physical activity at the University of Otago, the University of Hawaii, and latterly as part of a Māori health initiative based out of the Tairawhiti (on the East Coast). During this time I have developed an interest in the origin of Māori physical activity and its potential to improve contemporary Māori health. I discovered pre-European Māori had a comprehensive array of training techniques at the highest level. This included expertise in strength and conditioning techniques for power, agility, quickness, speed, coordination, flexibility, muscular endurance, strength and aerobic conditioning.

Importantly, these techniques were garnered from pre-European Māori’s most abundant resource – the environment they lived in and shared with other living beings. Māori looked to their atua (gods), kaitiaki (guiding animals) and tipua (spiritual animals, for example taniwha) to make sense of their world and strengthen their control over their collective destiny (iwi, hapū, whānau).

Māori began to look to the characteristics and personality traits of their atua, kaitiaki and tipua as guiding forces to build strength and conditioning programmes for physical attributes (tinana), mental toughness (hinengaro) and spiritual connections to their environment (wairua). A kind of ‘total health’ approach gifted from the gods.

‘I have discovered pre- European Māori had a comprehensive array of training techniques at the highest level. This included expertise in strength and conditioning techniques for power, agility, quickness, speed, coordination, flexibility, muscular endurance, strength and aerobic conditioning.’

I want to prove to contemporary Māori that their pre-European ancestors valued physical training and consequent health. My intention is to build physical activity programmes that use the environment in a contemporary manner to improve and increase physical activity and health. The initiative will develop a socially and culturally valid strength-based approach.

This will be a global first: culture informing-physical activity-informing health. I hope this approach can show how Māori could lead other indigenous people in the shift to valuing and improving their health. Lastly, it means many of the activities unique to Māori, for example whakapapa, tikanga, kawa, atuatanga, kaitiakitanga and tipuatanga, may be the key to Māori understanding the role of physical activity – and why it should be valued because of its connection with our genetic origins.

Of course, more conclusive evidence is needed and I can hear the academics among you saying: ‘sounds good but where’s your proof?’. It is coming. See the Ministry of Education’s support for a new curriculum based on atuatanga (Māori theology) for all wharekura (schools) and wananga (tertiary institutions).

The most interesting part of my work has been showing Māori they can reclaim the experiences of their ancestors. They can readily change when shown they come from a lineage that valued courage and fortitude instead of giving in to contemporary illnesses that threaten their very existence.

I prefer to think that Māori can determine their own mana rather than have it decided by a medical model that assigns pre-determined roles – that Māori are automatically at high risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, lung cancer and so on. I think this approach is destined for big things.

Watch this space as more Māori health organisations begin to return to the actions of their ancestors. Watch for physical activity programmes that use Tangaroa (the atua of the sea) and wave speed for interval training, rather than the clinical environment of contemporary gyms. Watch for Māori moving forward as they learn more about where they have come from rather than what they have become. Just watch this space.

The Gisborne study

Dr Ihirangi Heke took part in a research study in Gisborne, where a group of elderly Māori were involved in a physical activity programme aimed at showing their innate strength.

Twelve kaumatua took part in a research project that increased their physical activity, analysed their gait on a treadmill, and tested a newly-designed diabetic shoe. They were split into three groups: one received gait analysis; the second gait analysis and a new pair of diabetic shoes; and the third gait analysis, new shoes and a six-week training programme.

Now, what does this have to do with diabetes or a strength-based approach? For a start we didn’t focus on the illnesses these individuals had, other than to obtain informed consent. We told them they were the culmination of centuries of Māori who had overcome introduced diseases, social and political oppression. We said they were Māori who had flourished, where others had not. That got them thinking. They started to believe that they could get themselves up and moving again. And they did!

All 12 increased their physical activity output and their self esteem. All 12 became the envy of the other 140 individuals that made up their kaumatua group, not just because of the new shoes they were sporting, but because they seemed to be getting something special the others wanted.

All 12 have continued to sustain their physical activity efforts. One individual went from bent over and hobbling to an upright powerful stride. Best of all, these individuals have been able to recruit others to physical activity because of the gains they have seen.

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