"We do not stop exercising because we get old... we get old because we stop exercising!"
Here I present an up-to-date, evidence-based method for prescribing exercise as medicine in the treatment of 26 different diseases: psychiatric diseases (depression, anxiety, stress, schizophrenia); neurological diseases (dementia, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis); metabolic diseases (obesity, hyperlipidemia, metabolic syndrome, polycystic ovarian syndrome, type 2 diabetes, type 1 diabetes); cardiovascular diseases (hypertension, coronary heart disease, heart failure, cerebral apoplexy, and claudication intermittent); pulmonary diseases (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, cystic fibrosis); musculo-skeletal disorders (osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, back pain, rheumatoid arthritis); and cancer.
Physical activity represents a cornerstone in the primary prevention of at least 35 chronic conditions (Booth et al., 2012). However, over the past two decades, considerable knowledge has accumulated concerning the significance of exercise as the first-line treatment of several chronic diseases.
Exercise has a medicinal role in diseases that do not primarily manifest as disorders of the locomotive apparatus. In the medical world it is traditional to prescribe the evidence-based treatment known to be the most effective and entailing the fewest side effects or risks.
The evidence suggests that in selected cases exercise therapy is just as effective as medical treatment and in special situations more effective or adds to its effect. The accumulated knowledge is now so extensive that it has to be implemented.
It is time for the health systems to create the necessary infrastructure to ensure that supervised exercise can be prescribed as medicine! Moreover, it is important that society in general support a physical active lifestyle. People do not move, when you tell them to. People move when the context compels them to do so. In order to enhance the physical activity level of a population, accessibility is important.
Dr. Fredrick Peters "The Fitness Doctor" has created a plethora of programs for many of the common diseases and chronic conditions currently facing our society!
With proper nutrition and exercise, many of these problems can be cured!
Live a better life, the natural way. Contact me for more information.