18/11/2019
One study which looked at over 7,000 GPs and over 680,000 patient encounters found that there were only 619 referrals to exercise physiologists.
Why is this significant?
Well, there's a few reasons:
1) Research has repeatedly shown that exercise not only helps to reduce your risk of developing a wide range of chronic diseases, it also helps patients to manage their condition, improve their quality of life and reduce risk of comorbidities.
2) Almost half of all Australians are living with a chronic condition, and nearly 1 in 4 people are living with two or more.
3) Exercise physiologists are the best placed allied health professionals when it comes to prescribing exercise to those with chronic conditions.
It's worth noting that this study also found that GP referral rates to exercise physiologists are slowly increasing, and it's a trend we can totally get behind!
We're hoping that by spreading this message, we can encourage more GPs to talk to their patients about exercise (and vice versa), and increase the number of doctors referring to appropriately qualified exercise professionals.
To find an exercise physiologist near you, visit our website.