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- Page navigation anchor for Exercise referral schemes: Friend or foe?Exercise referral schemes: Friend or foe?This article resonated with me as it highlights the importance of engagement with community resources to increase patient physical activity levels, and how so many practices across the UK have partnered up with the Parkrun to improve their patients’ health and wellbeing. However, the authors contrast this with the cost and time limitation incurred by most exercise referral schemes (ERS). As cited in the article, the Chief Medical Officers’ recommendation of at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of more vigorous activity sets an ambition national benchmark for the promotion of a healthy lifestyle. Guidance published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) supports this and recommends that primary care practitioners should educate obese patients about the benefits of weight loss and lifestyle change and refer patients who are sedentary or inactive to an ERS.1,2This inspired my own engagement with a community resource as a Foundation Year 2 trainee in general practice (GP), where I conducted a plan-do-study-act (PDSA) cycle which resulted in a 5-fold increase in the number of referrals of patients suffering with obesity to a local ERS. The GP surgery at which I carried this out was in a 4th most deprived decile region of the UK, where the patient population suffering from obesity was almost 30% of the total practice population, reflecting the known link between obesity and socia...Show MoreCompeting Interests: None declared.
- Page navigation anchor for Exercise interventions in general practice give a high return on investmentExercise interventions in general practice give a high return on investmentThe article on parkrun schemes in general practice, highlights two key barriers to promoting exercise, the lack of time and motivation.For many clinicians integrating discussion on exercise into traditional 10-minute consultations is a challenge. However, even short interventions (<5 minutes) when followed up with exercise referral schemes, social support and encouragement from healthcare professionals have been shown to be successful.1,2 Brief intervention on exercise have been estimated to have a number needed to treat (NNT) of 12, which is far lower than smoking cessation (NNT, 35-120).3 This demonstrates that interventions to promote physical activity, give a better return on time investment than other interventions that we already routinely perform in general practice.Perhaps now more than ever during the COVID-19 pandemic, exercise and healthy lifestyle, should be a key part of health promotion during consultations. Early data from the UK biobank has shown that physical inactivity, smoking and obesity are associated with an increased risk of COVID-19 hospitalisation.4 This could be a key moment to instil motivation and change our own attitudes as healthcare professionals in promoting physical activity in general practice. Exercise interventions are inexpensive and allow patient participation groups, or local exercise champions to help patients to maint...Show MoreCompeting Interests: None declared.
- Page navigation anchor for Patient perspectives on prescribing parkrunPatient perspectives on prescribing parkrun
The paper “Engagement with and delivery of the ‘parkrun practice initiative’ in general practice” by Fleming et al 1 uncovers important challenges in improving clinician and patient engagement with parkrun within the concept of social prescribing. As a keen runner and newly graduated doctor, the parkrun practice initiative encompasses my two passions in life, and I am hopeful that it's popularity continues to grow. While time commitment appears to be the greatest factor preventing service provision, investigating patient attitudes to parkrun will likely uncover additional barriers to participation. Here, I speculate about some of these barriers.
I reflect on the book “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.” Huraki Murakami, author and long-distance runner, says “I’ve tried my best never to say something like, running is great. Everybody should try it. If some people have an interest in long-distance running, just leave them be, and they’ll start running on their own.”2 Perhaps we need to assess our approach to prescribing parkrun, striking a fine balance between authoritative medical advice and casual suggestion or mention. Or instead of focusing on the physical act of running in a group, which might deter less-confident runners, emphasising the social and psychological benefits of becoming part of the parkrun community might make it less daunti...
Competing Interests: None declared.