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May is ‘National Exercise is Medicine
Month’
By Caroline Monday
Susan Tumbleston, Chuck
Dumke and Jodi Cash with Boone mayor Loretta Clawson as
she signs the proclamation to make May National Exercise
is Medicine Month.
Photo by Caroline Monday |
Mayor Loretta Clawson has proclaimed the month of May as National
Exercise is Medicine Month for the town of Boone.
Exercise is Medicine Month is an initiative by the American College
of Sports Medicine and the American Medical Association. It is
meant to raise awareness about the benefits of physical activity
and to encourage physicians to discuss exercise with their patients.
Chuck Dumke, an associate professor in Appalachian State University’s
health, leisure and exercise science department, said the groups
want to call attention to how exercise can be used as a preventative
measure and treatment to many different illnesses. He said the
benefits of exercise as a treatment to illness is often overlooked,
with physicians going straight to pharmaceutical treatments.
Research has shown that exercise can help prevent or cure chronic
conditions and diseases, such as type two diabetes, high blood
pressure and heart disease. Susan Tumbleston, director of the
Be Active North Carolina-Appalachian Partnership, added that it
can also help with depression and certain kinds of cancer.
“We support this 100 percent,” Jodi Cash, director of
Appalachian Regional Healthcare’s Wellness Center, said.
She said some clients of the Wellness Center do come on referrals
from physicians and she would like to see more of that.
An added benefit, Cash noted, is that many physicians themselves
exercise at the center, setting a good example for patients of
theirs who come to work out.
Dumke said the initiative is not an effort to push physicians
to prescribe exercise to their patients, but rather to refer those
patients to an exercise professional, much the way they would
refer a patient to a physical therapist.
Dumke said the group is promoting this initiative among medical
professionals in a way similar to how pharmaceutical companies
promote their products. He said the Best Cellar restaurant and
its owner, Rob Dyer, have been contributing to the effort by hosting
luncheons to educate medical professionals.
He said many people see their family doctor as the first line
of defense against illness, but these doctors are often not trained
in how to use exercise as a treatment.
Clawson said the Exercise as Medicine program fits well with the
town’s efforts to encourage walking as a key method of transportation.
“Exercise is so wonderful for this community,” she said,
adding that she does a lot of walking herself.
For more information, visit exerciseismedicine.org.
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