Fery include physical activity on the prescription, even before a drug, and consider it as a treatment in its own right. This is what the High Authority for Health (HAS) recommends. On Tuesday, September 6, she presented work aimed at encouraging health professionals to prescribe more physical activity.
François Carré, cardiologist and sports doctor at the University Hospital of Rennes, even suggests specifying the “dosage” : number of sessions per week, duration, adapting to the patient and the pathology. To do this, the HAS has published a new guide of consultation and prescription of physical activity in adults, new help sheets for prescription by pathology and knowledge guides.
Since a law of 2016, doctors can prescribe physical activity adapted to people with long-term illness. The law of March 2, 2022, aimed at democratizing sport-health, has extended this framework to people affected by chronic diseases or having risk factors such as overweight, obesity, loss of autonomy… i.e. approximately 20 million of people.
The prescription, a motivating factor
“The lights are green to allow physical activity to become a treatment in its own right, prescribed by doctors, just like medication”, insisted Dominique Le Guludec, president of the HAS college. She is convinced that “the prescription, written medical prescription, constitutes an additional factor of motivation and adherence to physical activity”. Doctors must refer to professionals of these adapted physical activities, for a supervised activity, in particular sports-health centres. In all cases, it is also advisable to insist on the need to reduce sedentary time for the entire population.
The HAS had already published in 2018 and 2019 a first guide on the consultation and prescription of physical activity, with sheets for eleven pathologies and health conditions including overweight and obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension blood pressure, stroke, certain cancers, depression, pregnancy, age-related ailments, etc. It has expanded its advice to six new pathologies, including asthma, type 1 diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenic disorders…
Remember, physical activity “limits the risk of recurrence of certain breast cancers, halves the risk of transition from a prediabetic state to diabetes…”as indicated by the HAS, not to mention maintaining the autonomy of the elderly or the effects on mental health and quality of life.
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