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Quebec doctors can now prescribe exercise
- Steltek 11y agoIn 2014, doctors in Boston were able to begin prescribing a Hubway bike share membership: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/03/27/new-program-will-allow-boston-medical-center-doctors-prescribe-bike-sharing-program/zjwfLfCEtAEGfWYxVn4CiN/story.html https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/03/27/new-program-wil... In Boston's case, it's a mutually beneficial arrangement for the city: healthier citizens and less traffic on the roads by converting drivers to bikers.
- ebiester 11y agoI'm not sure -- is the increased health contraindicated by the increased chance of injury or death from unobservant car drivers?
- femto 11y agoThe health benefits outweigh the risks [1], if measured by increased life span. This is a relatively common question about cycling. [1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2920084/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2920084/ --- Edit for clarity.
- jug5 11y agoThat's just so the government in Quebec can regulate the fitness industry. Red herring.
- 6d0debc071 11y agoI imagine that goes down well at an appointment. Someone you might see once a decade or less giving you lifestyle advice.
- brianwawok 11y agoI am sure it is ignored the same as people who are 200 pounds overweight ignore "You need to lose weight" On the other hand, this is awesome. Giving them a concrete goal. A lot easier to say "Walk 30 minutes a day, 7 days a week" than "Exercise more"... go exercise! (Not sure exactly how the cube system works, but it seems more concrete.. maybe it is the exercise version of the calorie?)
- GFK_of_xmaspast 11y agoMost people aren't in a situation where they can go a decade between seeing a doctor (and it's in Quebec, so the American healthcare exceptionalism doesn't apply)
- 6d0debc071 11y agoIf that's the case, then people are much unhealthier on average than I'd assumed. What do they visit about?
- 0xcde4c3db 11y agoThe total number of people with at least one chronic medical condition is pretty huge (possibly even a majority), which gets obscured because we usually only talk about prevalence for individual diseases/disorders.
- 6d0debc071 11y agoThat's a tad worrying. I've found some statements to that effect when I did a search on that last night and some stuff about obesity, do you have any sources giving a breakdown tied to individuals (not names, but like person#whatever has X Y Z) so I'm not double-counting?
- vonnik 11y agohttp://theshrug.com/this-is-the-best-drug-commercial-you-will-ever-see/#VupduoDRE4TDYBPz.01 http://theshrug.com/this-is-the-best-drug-commercial-you-wil...
- anon4 11y agoI wonder how well this meshes with the fact that a lot of cities aren't built for walking. Walking is in general good, but is it responsible for your doctor to prescribe you an activity that is actually illegal in the area where you live, due to there being no sidewalks and walking on the street being illegal.
- brianwawok 11y agoDoes anyone outside of prison really live in a place where they can not walk as much as they want in a given day? Even in Alaska in the middle of winter... you can walk around your work or a store or something... seems like a bit much to worry about, no?
- anu_gupta 11y agoCan you name some cities where walking is illegal? Or even areas of cities where walking is illegal?
- arkem 11y agoHighways and streets without sidewalks or suitable verges.
- trgn 11y agoI'm not certain about the illegal part, but plenty of urban development is very unpleasant to walk in. A lot of suburbs and a lot of city centers ravaged by urban renewal are plain repulsive, and even dangerous due to all the high speed traffic, to walk around in. It's easy to say for a doctor to "go walk outside", but not everybody can exit their front door in an area that's welcoming to walking or cycling.
- bpodgursky 11y agoMost suburbs are incredibly easy to walk in. As newish development almost all have sidewalks and are on residential streets. Are you going to walk to a grocery store? Probably not. But if your goal is walking there is no problem.
- meggoirech 11y agoThats great. Yeah, there is a huge difference between saying, go exercise, and giving a prescripted regimen. Hopefully they can start having funded exercise programs in the community or based on the general prescriptions the doctors are giving.
- CydeWeys 11y agoIt's so obvious it's amazing this hasn't already been a thing since the beginning of the obesity epidemic. Specific exercise instructions are more likely to be followed than a vague admonition to "exercise more". I wonder if gym memberships will be covered as care by health insurance plans? They're certainly a lot cheaper that hospital stays!
- 0xcde4c3db 11y agoI think the problem is that the implementation process -- creating an actual exercise program -- is quite non-obvious. As far as I know, the studies that have been done on the dose-response curves of various exercises have reached somewhat inconsistent results, except that they consistently show significant inter-individual variability for a given tuple of type, dose, and outcome measure (NB: they do not generally show a single unified axis of exercise super-responders and non-responders, a common interpretation of such studies in the news media). For the general population not trying to optimize performance in a specific sport, the nuts-and-bolts business of "what exercise should I do?" is fraught with bargeloads of pseudoscience, tribal lore, magical thinking, fad-chasing, and actively-amplified marketing nonsense. And then if, despite the atmosphere of uncertainty, you convince yourself to try something and it doesn't work for you, that method's dedicated acolytes will waste no time in telling you that you must be doing it wrong, must by lying about something, are just looking for excuses to be lazy, and so on. It's not really an environment that's shaped for success.
- Swizec 11y ago> For the general population not trying to optimize performance in a specific sport, Therein lies the solution. Pick a sport you enjoy, do it as many times a week as your schedule permits, but bend your schedule so it's at least twice. Voila, 2+ hours of strenuous exercise per week.
- 0xcde4c3db 11y agoHow many sports must one try before being allowed to conclude that "a sport you enjoy" isn't in the cards?
- guiomie 11y agoAll that is missing now are doctors to give the prescription. (seeing a family doctor in Quebec is really difficult)
- adrusi 11y agoI'm not entirely sure who wins here. The prescription doesn't mean much aside from that insurance will pay fitness-related bills. But exercise doesn't have to cost anything. Even in the most unwalkable cities there's some place you can go to just walk around in. And who wouldn't doctors prescribe exercise to. If someone comes asking their doctor for an exercise prescription so that they can get a free gym membership, there's no reason for the doctor to say no (save for cases where the patient has a heart disease or similar where regular exercise is inadvisable). Not only will it not hurt the patient, it'll in fact help them. It will also help the doctor as it will help present them as someone who listens to patients and it helps fill appointments. If this becomes widespread, the result will be more expensive insurance (or in Quebec, higher taxes) and more expensive fitness programs.
- x5n1 11y agoIt helps a lot to have a trainer. In fact we should be paying for gym and fitness trainers for pretty much anyone who wants it. The benefits are extraordinary especially in Canada where we all pay for everyone's healthcare. Yes exercise costs nothing. But it is often repetitive and boring. And in Canada it's cold 1/2 the year so having some place indoors is very helpful and having it paid for is even more encouraging. We need to make exercise free, fun, and with trainers that work with people. It needs to be like gym in school on days where the gym teacher didn't have a stick up his/her ass... for anyone at any age.
- monochromatic 11y ago> It helps a lot to have a trainer. In fact we should be paying for gym and fitness trainers for pretty much anyone who wants it. The benefits are extraordinary especially in Canada where we all pay for everyone's healthcare. This mindset that the government should be spending tax revenue on anything beneficial is bizarre.
- rdtsc 11y ago> This mindset that the government should be spending tax revenue on anything beneficial is bizarre. Anything? Did they say that? Health care of citizens is not "anything", it is a very imporant thing. More important than military, guns, flying to the moon, and many other things. So yes, they should be spending the hell of out of that tax revenue to keeps citizens healthy, productive and not have hundreds of millions of chronically sick patients all needing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of care every couple of years.
- dr_ 11y agoAny doctor can prescribe exercise, including doctors in the US. You don't really need a lot of equipment, you don't really need gym membership. The issue is whether or not the patient will be compliant with an exercise regimen, and educating them on the importance of exercise and physical activity in general. If the purpose of this is to allow exercise during the actual work day - that would be interesting, but would require the cooperation of employers or some type of federal regulation - in the US, maybe thrown under FMLA.
- WalterBright 11y agoMy dad's doctor once told him to lose the spare tire, and sent him to a nutritionist, who gave him a diet plan. Some months later, he went back to the nutritionist for a checkup, and the nutritionist was shocked that he'd actually followed her plan. He became one of those unicorns who kept the weight off until he passed away 30 years later, though he complained that he was always hungry.
- hueving 11y ago>though he complained that he was always hungry. What a miserable way to live. :(
- steven777400 11y agoI've lost a couple dozen pounds through dieting and now am in the keeping it off phase. It's hard because it's not like making progress toward a goal, it's just being hungry all the time. I was less healthy but more happy when I just ate delicious pastry all day long. It's hard to maintain.
- WalterBright 11y agoA colleague of mine had quit smoking 20 years earlier. I asked him if he still felt the urge to smoke. He laughed and said it was a daily struggle. He fell off the wagon and resumed smoking some months later. Beating these kinds of things is a lifelong struggle. I wish you the best in your endeavor.
- StavrosK 11y agoI imagine it depends on the person, as well. I lost 22 lbs ages ago, and I can't say I'm hungry. If anything, I still overeat, I just don't go completely overboard on candy and other junk. The biggest problem is changing your habits, not so much your food. For example, if I'm home, I'll eat properly, but if I go out with friends we'll end up getting a burger at some point.
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- jasonlotito 11y agoConsidering all the problems the Quebec medical industry has at the moment, I still wouldn't trust Quebec with the care of myself or my family. It's such an abusive system.
- stuxnet79 11y agoIn Ontario it's not that much better sadly.