Body and identity in advanced age: Bodily exercise or abandonment as monitor of the fight against vulnerability

This study conducted among elderly people over the age of 88 living in nursing homes for dependent seniors elucidates the diverse trajectories of aging. Considering the body "in all its states" makes it possible to go beyond the strictly biological dimension and introduce physical and sports activities as tools to preserve people's self image. These practices allow strategies to be developed to bolster low self-image by reducing tensions to arrive at a point of balanced identity. This concept has been introduced in an attempt to transcend the contradiction between continuity and change in identity. Adapted from the source document.