If there was a treatment that could reduce heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and cancer by up to 50% and lower your risk of early death by up to 30%, would you be interested?
How about if it was free, and you can start immediately?
This same treatment – without any medical interactions – can also help people struggling with mental health issues. It can improve sleep, self-confidence, mood and motivation, reduce social isolation, fatigue levels and short term sickness absence.
It’s not new. This has been tried and tested for centuries. You’ve guessed it, physical activity does all these things.
Yet in England only 40% of men and 28% women [Wales 36% male, 23% female; Scotland 43% male, 32% female, Northern Ireland 33% male, 28% female] do the recommended amount.
It’s even less in children [England 2-15yo 32% boys, 24% girls; Wales 4-15yo 63% boys; 45% girls; Scotland 2-15yo 76% boys 67% girls; Northern Ireland 8-12yo 19% boys, 10% girls]. What’s more, even if you do the recommended levels of exercise, if you spend the rest of the time sitting down, then that’s still bad for you!
Diet is of huge importance to anyone motivated to improving their health. Those looking to lose weight by exercise alone will struggle, but it can be achieved when combined with nutritional improvements.
The role that diet has in disease processes is recognised in multiple guidelines, yet medical students find that their teaching is inadequate. If humans are machines, then the fuel should be important to analyse.
Musculoskeletal (MSK) injuries make up a third of presentations to primary care, but in the UK, MSK teaching makes up 2-6% of teaching at undergraduate level, and over 50% found teaching inadequate.
Many studies have shown that students and trainees lack the confidence to treat MSK conditions. Surveys from UK Medical Schools showed Exercise and Obesity and Sports and Exercise Medicine training were considered less important than MSK teaching, with Nottingham being the first medical school to incorporate SEM training into the curriculum.
This shows there is a definite need for further education regarding physical activity and musculoskeletal medicine, to help clinicians help their patients.
On Friday 30 August, the University of Nottingham Sports and Exercise Masters faculty will help cut through these issues, to help clinicians deal with these very common and very crucial topics and to benefit our patients’ health.
This conference will show the far-reaching benefits physical activity and healthy eating can have, from reducing cancer, cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes to helping with mental health problems.
In the afternoon workshops, there will be a focus on musculoskeletal examinations and common sports problems which are frequently seen in primary care.
The aim of the day is to engage and help clinicians use physical activity to improve patients’ lives whilst also enhancing their clinical skills in musculoskeletal medicine.
After the day’s lectures and workshops, you can practice what you preach as delegates will have access to the University of Nottingham Sports Facilities to burn off some calories!
09:30 Welcome Coffee and Registration & SEM Poster Presentations
10:00 Brigitte Scammell – Evidence based injury prevention strategies using physical activity, particularly regarding ankle injuries and osteoarthritis
10:30 TBC – How active are our patients?
10:45 Kimberley Edwards – Is sport safe?
11:00 Benjamin Ollivere – Give upper limb injuries the elbow
11:15 Zoe Bamber – Ankle injuries: risk of death!
11:30 Short Coffee Break
11.50 Podium Presentations
12:30 Simon Noad – Returning patients to physical activity after injury
12:45 Joseph Agu – The healing power of food
13:00-14:00 LUNCH & SEM Poster Presentations
A range of workshops will run parallel throughout the afternoon. Attendees can choose on the day one from the list below to attend:
Session 1: 14.00-15.15 (Joe Agu – Healthy Eating workshop; Zoe Bamber -– Ankle Injuries workshop; Paul Mathews – Knee injuries workshop.
Session 2: 15.30-16.45 (Charlotte Hilton – Integrating motivational interviewing into routine conversations with patients; Ben Ollivere –- Elbow injuries workshop; Simon Noad – Rehab protocols: evidence vs real life.
16.45-18.00: PHYSICAL ACTIVITY! – Delegates will have access to University of Nottingham Sports Facilities, to burn some calories and work up a sweat.
Author: Chris Bosshardt is a GP and Sports Medicine Doctor who lectures on Exercise Prescription
Oluwajana F, Rufford C, Morrissey DExercise, sports and musculoskeletal medicine in UK medical school curricula: a survey British Journal of Sports Medicine 2011;45:e1.
Goff I1,2, Wise EM3,4, Coady D5,4, Walker D6,4. Musculoskeletal training: are GP trainees exposed to the right case mix for independent practice? Clin Rheumatol. 2016 Feb;35(2):507-11. doi: 10.1007/s10067-014-2767-z. Epub 2014 Sep 6.
Margham T. Musculoskeletal disorders: time for joint action in primary care. Br J Gen Pract. 2011;61(592):657–658. doi:10.3399/bjgp11X601541
Improved education in musculoskeletal conditions is necessary for all doctors Kristina Åkesson,1 Karsten E. Dreinhöfer,2 & A.D. Woolf3
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-43504125 We learn nothing about nutrition, claim medical students
Mogre V, Stevens FCJ, Aryee PA, Amalba A, Scherpbier AJJA. Why nutrition education is inadequate in the medical curriculum: a qualitative study of students' perspectives on barriers and strategies. BMC Med Educ. 2018;18(1):26. Published 2018 Feb 12. doi:10.1186/s12909-018-1130-5