Exercise as medicine

Dr Mark Fulcher talks about using exercise as medicine. Mark is a Sport and Exercise Physician at Axis. Mark has worked extensively in sports medicine and is especially interested in injury prevention and the treatment of concussion. He works closely with ACC and is part of their Sports Collaboration Group which recently released the Concussion Service Guidelines for medical providers in NZ.

Topics

What are the health benefits of physical activity?
How do we assess physical activity?
What does an exercise prescription look like? What do we tell our patients to do?
Are there patients we shouldn’t prescribe exercise to?
Are there any side effects of exercise?
Are some forms of exercise better than others?
Is there a role for activity trackers?
If exercise is so wonderful – why don’t we prescribe it?

Take home messages

Think about "physical activity" rather than "exercise"
Incidental exercise gains - Can I get my patient to do anything?
Remember: Physical inactivity is worse for you than the combined effects of diabetes, smoking and obesity.