May designated ‘Exercise is Medicine’ month

May 27, 2014 — The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) has designated the month of May to recognize the importance of healthcare professionals prescribing exercise for their patients. Exercise Is Medicine (EIM), initiated by the ACSM, provides and promotes information for healthcare professionals and patients alike.

Performance Health, manufacturer of TheraBand products, is proud to promote the importance of exercise for overall health and the management of chronic diseases.

“Exercise has been proven to be ‘medicine’ for several diseases. Research supports the effectiveness of exercise in the prevention of conditions such as cancer, arthritis and diabetes,” said Phil Page, PhD, PT, ATC, CSCS, FACSM, Global Director of Clinical Education and Research for Performance Health and committee member of the EIM initiative.

Despite the evidence, exercise prescription remains low among some healthcare providers. In addition, there are barriers for patients to exercise including facilities and equipment, specific programming and lack of time.

“Our research-based, economical and ‘easy-to-use-anywhere’ TheraBand products eliminate many of these patient barriers,” Page said.

The First Step to Active Health program, which was developed in conjunction with the ACSM and designed by experts under the National Blueprint to Increase Physical Activity, is a comprehensive, customizable and progressive activity program for inactive older adults.

“The First Step to Active Health program is based on a scientific foundation for exercise intervention and provides tools to access and individualize activity programs and strategies to encourage patients to become more active,” Page added. “The program has been shown to increase physical activity and function in several populations including arthritis, obesity and diabetes.”

In addition to being Exercise Is Medicine month, May is also the month designated to increase awareness for chronic conditions such as fibromyalgia, stroke, arthritis, osteoporosis and hypertension.

Source: Performance Health