Exercise: The miracle cure and the role of the doctor in promoting it
Eleven articles on PainSci cite Academy of Medical Royal Colleges 2015: 1. Quite a Stretch 2. A Guide to Sciatica Treatment for Patients 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 notes on Academy of Medical Royal Colleges 2015:
This is the primary authoritative source of the quote “exercise is the closest thing there is to a miracle cure.”
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.
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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,” B K Pedersen and B Saltin, Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 2015.
- “Physical activity protects from incident anxiety: A meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies,” Felipe B Schuch, Brendon Stubbs, Jacob Meyer, Andreas Heissel, Philipp Zech, Davy Vancampfort, Simon Rosenbaum, Jeroen Deenik, Joseph Firth, Philip B Ward, Andre F Carvalho, and Sarah A Hiles, Depress Anxiety, 2019.
- “Semantic memory functional MRI and cognitive function after exercise intervention in mild cognitive impairment,” J Carson Smith, Kristy A Nielson, Piero Antuono, Jeri-Annette Lyons, Ryan J Hanson, Alissa M Butts, Nathan C Hantke, and Matthew D Verber, 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,” Min Zhao, Sreenivas P Veeranki, Shengxu Li, Lyn M Steffen, and Bo Xi, British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2019.
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:
- No long-term effects after a three-week open-label placebo treatment for chronic low back pain: a three-year follow-up of a randomized controlled trial. Kleine-Borgmann 2022 Pain.
- Exercise and education versus saline injections for knee osteoarthritis: a randomised controlled equivalence trial. Bandak 2022 Ann Rheum Dis.
- Association of Lumbar MRI Findings with Current and Future Back Pain in a Population-based Cohort Study. Kasch 2022 Spine (Phila Pa 1976).
- A double-blinded randomised controlled study of the value of sequential intravenous and oral magnesium therapy in patients with chronic low back pain with a neuropathic component. Yousef 2013 Anaesthesia.
- Is Neck Posture Subgroup in Late Adolescence a Risk Factor for Persistent Neck Pain in Young Adults? A Prospective Study. Richards 2021 Phys Ther.