Nine out of ten health centers are prescribing exercise

2010-05-21

A national evaluation of physical activity on prescription showed that 17 000 prescriptions of physical activity were written in the year of 2007.

The evidence of the importance of physical activity on prescription as a method is good, and research demonstrates that the individualized prescription of exercise increases patients' physical activity. The main prescribers of physical activity are doctors, nurses and physiotherapists.

The National Institute of Public Health evaluated the range of activities for patients who have received a prescription for physical activity and assessed the adherence to the recipes. The Institute also assessed the application of physical activity on prescription in primary care. The evaluation, a government assignment, showed that 72 percent of health care centers have a plan describing the efforts to increase physical activity in disease prevention and treatment. 87 percent of the health centers use the method. Each county has a coordinator for the method of exercise on prescription, but there is more work to be done to further develop the work.

The evaluation reveals the need for support and action in a number of areas. These include:
• expanding the training of qualified personnel,
• the development of more informative directories of activities offered and
• encouragement to follow-up of patients' adherence to the recipes.