Doctors begin to prescribe physical activity

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Doctors at the United States’ Boston Medical Center are writing prescriptions that allow low-income patients to get a one-year membership to the city’s bike-sharing system for just five dollars.

“I think it’s absolutely fabulous that the medical profession is promoting exercise,” says Brian MacIntosh, a professor of kinesiology at the University of Calgary and chair of the Exercise is Medicine initiative in Canada. That is a movement dedicated to improving the health of Canadians by increasing their physical activity. It encourages doctors to help convince their patients to be more active.

Less activity, more chronic disease

Canadians have become increasingly sedentary in recent decades. As a result, many are becoming obese and running a higher risk of heart attack, stroke, kidney disease, cancer and death. Activities like cycling, skiing, walking and swimming can stave off theses chronic illnesses and have other benefits too.

“Physical activity… improves the quality of life, slows down many of the ageing processes and helps maintain functionality into old age,” says MacIntosh. Canadians are getting that message from many sources, he says, but they are likely to take it more seriously if it comes from a doctor or other health care provider.

Patients are already getting prescriptions for more exercise from doctors at Primary Care Network clinics in the western province of Alberta. And the government of the next-door province of British Columbia has issued special prescription pads for doctors that promote physical activity. MacIntosh would like to see even more action from doctors.

Exercise a ‘vital sign’

“One of the things we’d like to see is that physical activity become what is considered to be a vital sign,” says MacIntosh. “So in addition to checking blood pressure and other standard things at a check-up, the doctor asks their patient ‘how much physical activity are you getting’ and that becomes part of the medical record. If we could achieve that it would certainly encourage more physicians to be asking their patients (and)… reinforce the importance of it to all of their patients.”

“Incredibly important,” is how MacIntosh characterizes this issue. “The cost of health care is just ballooning out of control and the one area where we haven’t done well in the past is disease prevention…Over the past several decades our physical activity has decreased. We need to reverse that trend, improve and increase our physical activity and help prevent these chronic diseases.”