The source of the quote “exercise is the closest thing there is to a miracle cure”
Eleven articles on PainSci cite Academy of Medical Royal Colleges 2015: 1. Quite a Stretch 2. How to Treat Sciatic Nerve Pain 3. Complete Guide to Plantar Fasciitis 4. Shin Splints Treatment, The Complete Guide 5. The Complete Guide to Muscle Strains 6. Strength Training for Pain & Injury Rehab 7. Why So “Negative”? 8. Complete Guide to Frozen Shoulder 9. A Rational Guide to Fibromyalgia 10. Get in the Pool for Pain 11. What Works for Pain?
PainSci commentary on Academy of Medical Royal Colleges 2015: ?This page is one of thousands in the PainScience.com bibliography. It is not a general article: it is focused on a single scientific paper, and it may provide only just enough context for the summary to make sense. Links to other papers and more general information are provided wherever possible.
This citation is the primary authoritative source of the quote “exercise is the closest thing there is to a miracle cure” (although it are no doubt many variations on it from other sources over the years).
original abstract †Abstracts here may not perfectly match originals, for a variety of technical and practical reasons. Some abstacts are truncated for my purposes here, if they are particularly long-winded and unhelpful. I occasionally add clarifying notes. And I make some minor corrections.
The big four “proximate” causes of preventable ill-health are: smoking, poor nutrition, lack of physical activity and alcohol excess. Of these, the importance of regular exercise is the least well-known. Relatively low levels of increased activity can make a huge difference. All the evidence suggests small amounts of regular exercise (five times a week for 30 minutes each time for adults) brings dramatic benefits. The exercise should be moderate – enough to get a person slightly out of breath and/or sweaty, and with an increased heart rate. This report is a thorough review of that evidence.
Regular exercise can prevent dementia, type 2 diabetes, some cancers, depression, heart disease and other common serious conditions — reducing the risk of each by at least 30%. This is better than many drugs.
related content
- “Exercise: The miracle cure and the role of the doctor in promoting it,” Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, AOMRC.org.uk, 2015.
Exercise is Power: Resistance Training for Older Adults on YouTube.com.- “Exercise as medicine - evidence for prescribing exercise as therapy in 26 different chronic diseases,” Pedersen et al, Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 2015.
- “Physical activity protects from incident anxiety: A meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies,” Schuch et al, Depress Anxiety, 2019.
- “Semantic memory functional MRI and cognitive function after exercise intervention in mild cognitive impairment,” Smith et al, J Alzheimers Dis, 2013.
- “Beneficial associations of low and large doses of leisure time physical activity with all-cause, cardiovascular disease and cancer mortality: a national cohort study of 88,140 US adults,” Zhao et al, British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2019.
- “Association of Muscle-Strengthening and Aerobic Physical Activity With Mortality in US Adults Aged 65 Years or Older,” Webber et al, JAMA Netw Open, 2022.
This page is part of the PainScience BIBLIOGRAPHY, which contains plain language summaries of thousands of scientific papers & others sources. It’s like a highly specialized blog. A few highlights:
- Inciting events associated with lumbar disc herniation. Suri 2010 Spine J.
- Prediction of an extruded fragment in lumbar disc patients from clinical presentations. Pople 1994 Spine (Phila Pa 1976).
- Characteristics of patients with low back and leg pain seeking treatment in primary care: baseline results from the ATLAS cohort study. Konstantinou 2015 BMC Musculoskelet Disord.
- Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of universal school-based mindfulness training compared with normal school provision in reducing risk of mental health problems and promoting well-being in adolescence: the MYRIAD cluster randomised controlled trial. Kuyken 2022 Evid Based Ment Health.
- Is there a relationship between throbbing pain and arterial pulsations? Mirza 2012 J Neurosci.