Some of you might have seen the mew Public Health campaign
“Hate exercise, Love activity!”. Unsurprisingly, many physios are not happy
with it, and neither am I.
First off, the ‘Hate exercise’ part. Talk about giving
people negative presumptions of exercise itself. Instead of hating exercise how
about we help people find an exercise they enjoy. Not everyone is a runner,
however, cycling and swimming are good alternatives. Maybe you don’t like the
gym, exercise outside. MAube you don’t like the outdoors, go to a gym. To me
they would have done better to help people find exercise they enjoy instead of
giving it a negative connotation.
Second, ‘Love activity’. Activity does not equal exercise.
Walking, while great, is not the same as high intensity cardio. Playing with
the kids is good, but it’s unlikely you’re reaching heart rate targets to help
burn fat. A poodle around a swimming pool is not the same as swimming laps!And the term ‘activity’ does not even say what kind. Is it high
intensity like running around with the kids or is it low intensity like darts. No one knows!
And finally, I think what PH are trying to do is a good idea
in premise, but they’ve missed the mark here. We need to get people exercises,
not just bimbling around. We need to get GP’s to prescribe exercise to patients
that need to lose weight and not shy away from the truth. A lot of patients
won’t like this but tuff! We as an industry need to get people out there and
not be afraid of working hard to save their own lives.
As a Sports Therapist I get my clients to take an active
role in their recovery, I don’t do passive treatments for injuries, it’s a
waste both their and my time. Instead, I focus on the importance of doing the
exercises and keeping up with cardio while they’re injured. If more GP’s did
this with overweight and unhealthy patients we could start to reverse the tide
of obesity.
If you would like more information on sports injuries or
rehabilitation, please contact sara@prestigesportinjury.co.uk
