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The rationale is that seniors are accustomed to getting prescriptions from their doctor and using the familiar concept of a prescription to help physicians incorporate exercise recommendations into their routine practice will convince more to take action.
Exercise and the Older Adult
Doctors Should Prescribe Exercise for Older Adults
For Better Health
Some experts on aging are recommending that doctors should be writing more prescriptions for exercise for older adults. The rationale is that seniors are accustomed to getting prescriptions from their doctor and using the familiar concept of a prescription to help physicians incorporate exercise recommendations into their routine practice will convince more to take action.
This recommendation by Ann Yelmokas McDermott, Ph.D, researcher at Tufts University along with Heather Mernitz, Ph.D at the Biology Laboratory at the USDA is published in the journal American Family Physician.
They agree that it is necessary to provide clinicians with explicit guidelines for giving their older patients effective "exercise prescriptions." Their motto for determining an exercise prescription is FITT-PRO:
- Frequency
- Intensity
- Type
- Time
- Progression
According to these principles, an exercise prescription must explicitly instruct a patient regarding what type of exercise to do, how often, how hard to perform and for how long.
The exercises must also progress over time as the patient becomes more physically fit. McDermott and Mernitz caution that, as with medication prescriptions, these parameters must be personalized to suit each patient's health status and goals.
It's unfortunate that only half of older adults report having received a suggestion to exercise from their physicians. Perhaps as the fitness industry becomes more standardized and the clinicians recognize the need to participate in their patients' healthcare, they will recognize that this is an effective and rather inexpensive way to keep their patients more functional.
McDermott AY, Mernitz H. American Family Physician. (August 2006); 74 (3) Exercise for Patients: Prescribing Guidelines.
Lori P. Michiel, NASM, CPT
Certified Personal Trainer
Fifty Plus Fitness
