The Couch is a Killer–getting our population to sit less and move more

Sport and Exercise Medicine: The UK trainee perspective (A BJSM blog series)  By Drs. Andrew Murray (@docandrewmurray) and David White (@rightwhite1) Health systems worldwide need to think differently. Fancy new medications and rescue helicopters may help once people become unwell, but the 2010 Global Burden of Disease study highlights that over 70% of disease burden in the UK is caused […]

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“Hey Doc, those exercises you suggested…….”

By Ann Gates (@exerciseworks)   Many diseases and long term health conditions respond clinically to exercise medicine. Just like medicines, such as statins, different exercises and physical activities have the ability to transform patient’s lives, control their symptoms and prevent and treat disease successfully. The evidence for the clinical practice of ‘exercise as a medicine’ […]

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Referring patients for exercise from the emergency department: A pilot study

By James R Griffiths Abstract Background/Aims In 2006 NICE concluded that there was insufficient evidence to recommend the use of exercise referral schemes (ERS) to promote physical activity, other than as part of research studies where their effectiveness can be evaluated. Despite this, there are approximately 600 ERS in the UK that primary care have […]

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Final Update on the Hertfordshire Health and Wellbeing Strategy: Physical Activity as a Key Priority

By Dr. Richard Weiler and Christine Neyndorff Here is the final update on our successful social media and BJSM blog campaign  (read original call to action here) to get physical activity promotion into the  2013-2016 Hertfordshire Health and Wellbeing Strategy. Hertfordshire’s 2013-16 Health and Wellbeing Strategy was formally launched on Monday 11 February. Physical activity […]

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Exercise physiologists and chronic disease management in North America: A role of importance

Undergraduate perspective on Sports & Exercise Medicine – a BJSM blog series By Lisa Campkin (@LisaCampkin) Recently, the term ‘Exercise is Medicine’ was copyrighted by the American College of Sports Medicine. This particular initiative in exercise medicine focuses on the role of clinicians in helping increase their patients’ physical activity levels. Exercise is Medicine has growing […]

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Extreme Physical Activity Promotion: Doc Murray to run 7 Ultra Marathons on all 7 continents within 7 days

In the spirit of extreme physical activity promotion, Doc Andrew Murray is off today (weather permitting in Antarctica) to run 7 Ultra Marathons on all 7 continents within 7 days. He’s doing this to raise awareness of the benefits of exercise (he now works on this issue for the Scottish Government) and also for The Scottish Association for […]

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Exercise Medicine: Inspiring the next generation, an interview with Dr. Mike Loosemore (Part 1 of 2)

By Liam West (@Liam_West) & Dr. Mike Loosemore Undergraduate perspective on Sports & Exercise Medicine (a BJSM blog series) The field of Sport & Exercise Medicine has two distinct areas. Namely, Exercise Medicine and Sports Medicine. To gain insights and get tips for students looking to follow in their footsteps, I interviewed two influential figures pushing the […]

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‘Run the World’ to change health behaviours – are you ready to practise what you preach?

By Liam West (@Liam_West) We all know regular physical activity is good for our health. So good in fact that it is often regarded as the equivalent of medicine’s ‘wonder drug.’  Exercise prescription is steadily increasing in practice and there might even be medico-legal implications if we don’t encourage patients to get physically active to […]

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Exercise as a medicine for both health professionals and patients!

By Ann Gates (@exerciseworks) This blog is an excerpt from: www.exercise-works.org blog on exercise as a medicine label Generic name: Regular, daily exercise   Uses: For the prevention and treatment of most non communicable diseases such as: heart disease, cancer, hypertension, stroke, obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis, mental health problems, parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, asthma, chronic obstructive airways disease, musculoskeletal […]

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Overcoming barriers for health professionals to give more exercise advice and support to patients

By Ann Gates (@exerciseworks) It is unacceptable in 21st century medicine for 36 million people to die from preventable and treatable diseases! A recent BJSM paper reviewed the barriers to health professionals in giving exercise advice and support to patients within the context of a primary care consultation. This review identified three key barriers to successful brief […]

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