Current evidence-based recommendations for physical activity suggest that adults should participate in muscle strengthening exercise for all major muscle groups twice weekly, and either 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity or at least 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity weekly.
However, many people do not meet these recommendations. Physiotherapists are skilled and qualified to help people to improve their physical activity levels, as well as providing treatment for specific clinical conditions.
It is important for physiotherapists to pay attention to patient expectations because they influence several important outcomes: patient satisfaction, repeat patronage, and the therapeutic alliance, which influence treatment efficacy.
The authors concluded that physiotherapists should not assume that patients expect passive before active therapies, and should not hesitate to provide PA advice to their patients, as this advice is likely to be welcomed.
> From: Kunstler et al., J Physiother 65 (2019) 230-236 . All rights reserved to Australian Physiotherapy Association. Click here for the online summary.
Want to read deeper into this topic? Have a look at the free full text version of this article published in Journal of Physiotherapy!