Moving Medicine is an initiative by the Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine (UK) in partnership with Public Health England and Sport England.
It is dedicated to spreading best practice, research and advice about physical activity to clinicians and patients to create a healthier, happier and more active nation.
Physical inactivity is in the top 10 greatest causes of ill health nationally.
Evidence shows that one in four patients would be more active if advised by a GP or nurse, yet nearly three quarters of GPs don't speak about the benefits of physical activity to patients because of either a lack of knowledge, skills or confidence.
The Moving Medicine tool will help healthcare professionals advise patients on how physical activity can help to manage their conditions, prevent disease and aid recovery. Users are able to dig as deep as they want to into the evidence base, embedded in a time-based framework to support good quality conversations based on established behavioural change techniques and motivational interviewing theory.
The tool focuses on helping to address the most common long-term health conditions affecting the population, such as cancer, depression, musculoskeletal pain and type 2 diabetes. Further development is ongoing, with new consultation frameworks and educational resources being added as they are developed.
Moving Medicine is a key component of the Moving Healthcare Professionals Programme, which is designed to support healthcare professionals embed physical activity into their approach to treating patients for key conditions in line with existing National Institute for Health Care Excellence guidance.
The 'prescribing movement' resources have been developed by a large team of Sport and Exercise Medicine doctors in consultation with 300 medical specialists, general practitioners, researchers and patients. The foundations of the content lie in robust reviews of the literature on physical activity in specific diseases and differ from other resources summarising the evidence base on physical activity as the structure has been designed by clinicians for clinicians to use in practise.
Clinical research shows that it is safer for people with long term health conditions to be active compared to being inactive – the benefits outweigh the risks.
A risk consensus has been developed to help healthcare professionals feel confident about what advice they should give to patients with long term conditions about being active and help overcome fears of worsening symptoms.
The Active Hospitals programme is part of the Moving Medicine package of support for healthcare professionals. It aims to increase the use of physical activity in patients' treatment and recovery, by changing the culture within hospitals to encourage patients to move more and to recognise the role that physical activity can play in supporting patient recovery.
A comprehensive toolkit of resources has been developed to support senior hospital administrators to take the steps necessary to become an Active Hospital, including case studies from different healthcare settings, governance framework, and promotional resources.
Active Conversations is an online learning course grounded in motivational interviewing in the context of physical activity.
It aims to help all healthcare professionals to engage in positive conversations to help their patients to become and stay more active.
