Exercise Is Medicine

THE PHYSICIAN AND SPORTSMEDICINE - VOL 25 - NO. 7- JULY 97

Mr Hong's angina is stable, but he's putting on weight and is easily winded. Mrs White's mood hasn't lifted on a low dose of antidepressants. You recheck Mr Hong's stress test and review his medication, cholesterol profile, and diet. You consider increasing Mrs White's antidepressant dosage this visit, despite your concern about side effects.

Wait: Have you also checked their exercise prescriptions?

Coronary artery disease and depression are among the conditions you see every day for which exercise has become part of the scientifically validated treatment. "Exercise Is Medicine" (long a PSM slogan) has officially joined exercise for disease prevention in the physician's armamentarium.

To bring this home—meaning, to make it easy and practical for our readers—we are launching in this issue a new "Exercise Is Medicine" article series edited by Nicholas A. DiNubile, MD. Each month's article will focus on a different illness or condition, beginning with Dr DiNubile's discussion of osteoarthritis. Each article will give you the background science, show how exercise fits into the rest of the treatment plan, detail the prescription how-to for the doctor, and provide a handout for patients. We hope this will introduce you painlessly to the exercise prescription habit.

Meanwhile, your currently active patients continue to need your attention. Problems you'll confront this summer and fall might include fevers in football players, return-to-play decisions for students with C-spine injuries—and possibly even cardiovascular collapse. You'll want to stay up-to-date, too, with medical developments that affect active women (page 91).

One more thing: Have you checked your own exercise prescription?

Cordially,
Richard H. Strauss, MD
Editor-in-Chief

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