It’s never too late to get moving.

A new study says simple physical activity, mostly walking, helps high-risk seniors stay mobile after disability-inducing ailments even if they’d long been engaging in too much sitting.

One health policy specialist says the research released yesterday in Annals of Internal Medicine suggests prescribing exercise may be just as important as prescribing medications.

The study enrolled more than 16-hundred adults between the ages of 70 and 89 considered at high risk for disability because they were sedentary and had various chronic health problems, such as heart disease or diabetes.

Over three-and-a-half years, the walking program reduced the amount of time seniors spent suffering from a major mobility problem by 25 per cent.