Published 2 February 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b386
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b386

Letters

Promotion of exercise by GPs

Results not strong enough for GPs to implement BMJ study

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

So, after 7-13 minutes with a practice nurse and five phone calls of 15 minutes each, those who come for another 30 minute appointment with the nurse tell her they are exercising more but all firm data such as blood pressure, weight, waist circumference, lipid measurements, and current drug treatment are unchanged?¹ People are generally keen to please, and it would seem ungrateful to report to the nurse that little has changed.

I don’t yet share Iliffe and colleagues’ conclusion that, "Lawton and colleagues’ study shows that exercise promotion through general practice can change behaviour if it is embedded in routine care, based on continuing contact and dialogue, and tailored to individual needs."^{1 2}

I believe that increasing exercise is important for all age groups, particularly elderly people, but, in the absence of stronger evidence, I cannot back adding this huge burden to our practice clinic system.

I agree we should . . . [Full text of this article]

¹ Barnstaple, Devon EX32 8GP

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    StumbleUpon    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Articles

Promotion of exercise in primary care

Steve Iliffe, Tahir Masud, Dawn Skelton, and Denise Kendrick
BMJ 2008 337: a2430. [Extract] [Full Text]

Exercise on prescription for women aged 40-74 recruited through primary care: two year randomised controlled trial

Beverley A Lawton, Sally B Rose, C Raina Elley, Anthony C Dowell, Anna Fenton, and Simon A Moyes
BMJ 2008 337: a2509. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Online poll

Find out more here>> and here>>