Motivating Your Patients to Live Physically Active Lives

October 22, 2017 at 3:10pm

Individuals with obesity can often engage in a variety of physical activities, including pilates, kickboxing, and paddleboard yoga, according to Deborah Bade Horn, DO, MPH, FOMA, president of the Obesity Medicine Association and medical director at the University of Texas (UT) Physicians Center for Obesity Medicine & Metabolic Performance in Bellaire, Texas.

Dr Horn will present “How to Help Your Patients Lead a Physically Active Life” on October 22, 2017, at the Cardiometabolic Risk Summit in Dallas, Texas.

In her session, Dr Horn will identify the benefits and challenges associated with common physical activities, such as walking, using stationary equipment, cycling, and aqua and deep-water aerobics. In addition, she will demonstrate the use of a benefit/challenge scorecard in helping patients with obesity choose certain types of physical activities that work best for them.

Benefits associated with certain exercises included whether the activity was weight bearing, non-impact, or low cost; whether patients enjoyed it; and whether the activity required minimal equipment and training. The challenges tied to trying certain activities included comorbidities, joint loading, environmental safety, and behavioral barriers, such as insecurities and motivation.

Dr Horn will also touch on low-risk and high-benefit equipment and tools that patients could use while exercising, including resistance bands or a stability ball.

According to Dr Horn, patients should engage in approximately 150 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise per week, along with strength training, to achieve general health benefits. In order to prevent weight gain, patients should perform approximately 150 minutes per week, and to prevent weight regain, approximately 300 to 420 minutes per week.

Many strategies exist to help incorporate physical activities into daily life and achieve the recommended amount of weekly physical activities, Dr Horn explained. For example, at work, patients could consider holding “standing meetings,” setting a timer and standing up each time it goes off, or taking active lunch breaks.

Dr Horn will conclude by discussing how the types of physical activity that patients can perform can be much different than those that are commonly expected or prescribed. She challenges practitioners to consider the biases they may have discovered during her session, and asked how practitioners can change the message they share daily with patients.

—Christina Vogt

Reference:

Horn DB. How to help your patients lead a physically active life. Presented at: Cardiometabolic Risk Summit 2017; October 20-22, 2017; Dallas, TX. https://cardiometabolicrisksummit2017.sched.com/event/AFyW/how-to-help-your-patients-lead-a-physically-active-life.