Exercise care by general practitioners: Providing sustainable solutions for patients living with chronic disease.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Most Australian adults are insufficiently physically active, creating an economic and moral imperative to support exercise care in general practice. OBJECTIVE: To provide an overview of exercise care in general practice to support sustained solutions for patients living with chronic disease. DISCUSSION: Exercise care should be considered a fundamental component of high-quality consultations, including assessing, advocating and monitoring for physical activity. Exercise levels and cardiorespiratory fitness can be considered 'vital signs' for tracking over time. Modest gains in physical activity levels have clinical benefits, warranting approaches that engage patients in any amount of time in exercise. Resources are available to support general practitioners (GPs) to incorporate exercise care into routine consultations. GPs can print or save the links provided in this paper and use platforms such as GoShare to connect patients to the resources. Over 15 exercise-specific clinical practice guides are available through The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners' Handbook of non-drug interventions.