Exercise is medicine: some cautionary remarks in principle as well as in practice

Abstract

On the basis of extensive research on the relationship between physical activity, exercise and health, as well as strong support from policymakers and practitioners, the "Exercise is Medicine" initiative has become something of a linchpin in the agenda for modern healthcare reform and reflects a broader acceptance that the philosophy of health politics must shift from social engineering to performativity. However, in spite of the avowed commitment to encouraging individuals to take on a more reflexive relation to their health, it remains unclear as to whether an initiative such as this is, unambiguously, a good thing. In this paper, a number of cautionary remarks are made with respect to "Exercise is Medicine" in principle as well as in practice. Firstly, it is argued that equating exercise with medicine is to equate it with a definition of and relation to the body to which it is not entirely akin. And secondly, it is argued that any proposed alignment of the fitness and healthcare industries needs further critical examination, a realigning of interests, and a thorough reconsideration of their suitability of fit.

Exercise is medicine? Most of the time for most; but not always for all

“…Yet, if exercise is medicine, and if it has a role to play in the treatment and management of chronic ill health, its use must be held to the same ethical standards as traditional medical practices. Similarly, other than an isolated number of sociological commentaries (e.g., Fullagar, in press;Malcolm, in press;Nesti, 2016;Neville, 2013), few academics working within the broad realm of exercise for health benefits have engaged in ethical debates around the principles and practice of EiM. Contrast this with chemotherapy treatment where there is an abundance of literature regarding its ethical use according to various contexts (e.g., Manos et al, 2015;McLennon et al, 2013).…”

Exploring parkrun as a social context for collective health practices: running with and against the moral imperatives of health responsibilisation

“…This movement towards an understanding of ‘exercise as medicine’ has invited a new wave of critical scholarship (Fullagar , Neville ). Indeed, Lupton () suggests that new individual and collective identities are produced through knowledge practices that are implicated in the production of individual risk profiling of health and fitness data.…”

Theorizing physical activity health promotion: towards an Eliasian framework for the analysis of health and medicine

“…The (re-)conceptualization of sport into physical culture into, primarily, a healthcare practice in exercise (cf. Neville, 2013;Smith, 2016) means that from both public health and individual perspectives being inactive is irrational. This has profound implications in the "health education" initiatives taken which operate from a common central assumption that raising awareness of the benefits of activity and the concomitant dangers of inactivity will compel all rational people into, quite literally, action (Wen and Wu 2012).…”