Health group brings physical activity to primary care for disease management

Exercise is Medicine Canada (EIMC) National Task Force, a unique team of health-care and exercise professionals representing medicine, physiotherapy, dietetics, kinesiology and psychology, is aiming to get physical activity and exercise into mainstream patient care, in an effort to prevent and manage chronic diseases, including diabetes.

Dr. Jan Hux, chief scientific advisor for the Canadian Diabetes
Association, said the Canadian Diabetes Association’s 2013 Clinical
Practice Guidelines for the Prevention and Management of Diabetes in
Canada recommends all individuals with diabetes participate in at least
150 minutes of moderate to
vigorous intensity aerobic exercise each week, and encourages resistance training three times a week.

"Providing
diabetes care providers with practical and effective strategies for
incorporating physical activity into a management plan is extremely
valuable for people living with diabetes," Hux said.
 
Dr.
Jonathon Fowles, an exercise physiologist at the Centre of Lifestyle
Studies at Acadia University in Nova Scotia and a member of the Canadian
Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP) working group with EIMC, has
been working extensively at promoting practical strategies to assist
health-care professionals with incorporating exercise into primary care.

"There’s a range of ways to help in the process as opposed to simply telling people to be more active," said Dr. Fowles.
 
Susan
Yungblut, National Task Force Manager with EIMC, said her organization
is part of a global initiative that is bridging the gap between the
physical activity sector and our traditional health-care sector, which
reinforces the importance of exercise when talking to patients.

"We
understand that primary care professionals have very limited time when
seeing patients. Our goal is to provide the resources and tools to
support the integration of physical activity and exercise into our
health-care system to improve patient outcomes."
 
International
experts on physical exercise presented the latest scientific evidence
and resources to support the clinical value of regular exercise at a
special symposium during the 16th annual Canadian Diabetes Association
and Canadian Society of Endocrinology and Metabolism Conference,
speakers included:
• Dr. Steven Blair, renowned researcher on
physical activity and health and professor at the Arnold School of
Public Health at the University of South Carolina
• Dr. Edward Phillips, acclaimed lecturer from the Harvard Medical School
•
Dr. Paul Oh, medical director of the Cardiac Rehabilitation and
Secondary Prevention Program (the largest Cardiac rehabilitation program
in Canada).
 
The symposium featured clinical perspectives and
outcomes for patients with chronic diseases, such as diabetes. Dr.
Fowles also provided a range of tools and resources to help primary care
providers do more for their patients, including his Physical Activity
and Exercise Manual, adopted by the Canadian Diabetes Association as a
primary resource for diabetes care providers in Canada.
 
EIMC
was introduced by the American College of Sports Medicine in 2007 and
now has a presence in several countries around the world. This
initiative started in Canada over one year ago, with CSEP as a founding
partner.