Published on
Updated
Reading 2 mins.
in collaboration with
Dr Gérald Kierzek (Medical Director of Doctissimo)
Medical validation:
September 14, 2022
According to the High Authority for Health (HAS), physical activity must now be considered as a real treatment. A practical guide on the subject is now available online.
The list of health benefits of sport is as long as an arm: reduction of stress, better functioning of the heart and blood activity, maintenance of weight and muscle tone, improvement of sleep, reduction of the risk of cancer… And the High Health Authority (HAS) knows this well. This is why it wishes to facilitate its prescription to make it a treatment in its own right.
Physical activity: benefits that no longer need to be proven
The benefits of physical activity on health are known and now validated by numerous scientific studies.
” In chronic diseases, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, diabetes, obesity, osteoarthritis, etc., physical activity is a therapy in its own right – alone or in combination with other drug or non-drug treatments “underlines the High Authority for Health (HAS) in a press release, before adding: “More broadly, the benefits of physical activity on the state of health, physical condition, maintenance of autonomy in the elderly as well as on the quality of lives of populations at all ages of life have been proven “.
In this context, HAS has made various tools available to healthcare professionals, including “a guide to consultation and sports prescription methods”. The goal? Contribute to the development of physical activity as a therapeutic route.
A consultation and medical prescription guide
This 79-page guide provides a series of sports recommendations that must be adapted to the patient’s state of health: medical history, age, lifestyle, physical condition, body mass index, etc.
For example, patients suffering from asthma must therefore focus on endurance activities (cycling, walking, dancing, cross-country skiing, etc.), resistance or aquatic activities.
This guide will thus allow doctors to establish a personalized sports routine.
” It is a question of supporting the doctor in new convictions vis-à-vis physical activity and in his good prescribing practices thanks to the provision of knowledge and practical reference points to help him structure the patient’s health journey after having defined with him his physical activity objectives concludes Dominique Le Guludec, president of the HAS college.
Sport on prescription: who can be reimbursed?
For the moment, the State as well as the Social Security have not yet positioned themselves on the subject. Only certain local authorities offer to financially help people with a long-term condition. This is the case of Strasbourg, Paris, Biarritz or Blagnac.