Below is a great review that is concerned with the promotion of physical activity from physiotherapists in the UK that is open access on BMJ Open SEM
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Despite understanding the aforementioned benefits of physical activity, physiotherapists in the UK have a poor knowledge of the guidelines.
Physiotherapists are well versed to utilise physical activity as an intervention strategy to manage long term conditions.
Opportunities exist for physiotherapists to promote the benefits of a healthy lifestyle by engaging patients in conversations which support them in the steps they wish to take towards a healthier lifestyle although PA is not being comprehensively promoted within the health care setting.
When aiming to encourage our patients to become physically active, it may be beneficial to educate them on the ways in which physical activity can help them accomplish their goals, create enjoyment, well-being and pleasure through a patient-centred approach. This can improve patient autonomy.
This approach is the opposite of acting purely from a clinician-centred approach which can be concerned with meeting health indicators (i.e. blood pressure) that may fail to consistently motivate our patients where immediate results are not noticed.
When physical activity goals are recognised, they can act to strengthen the behaviour and how PA is perceived and experienced.
“Health is valuable because it provides the energetic re- sources people need to live well. Without health, people lack the requisite energy to pursue their most meaningful goals and roles. In this perspective on health, health is not the end goal; instead, its function is to be the intermediary of the real driver of what matters most: vitality and energy.” (Segar, Guerin, Phillips & Fortier, 2016).
“This effect is important to consider when discussing physical activity with patients. Physical activity recommendations are often one-size-fits-all prescription recommendations promoting optimal doses of physical activity required to improve health biomarkers and to prevent illness. Unfortunately, this strategy is plagued by being data or clinician focused rather than patient centered. Besides, when we create standards based on hitting a physical activity bullseye, anything other than achieving that criterion feels like a failure.”
Supporting articles/text