If you think family medicine physicians only focus on providing medical care, keep in mind that they also specialize in health promotion and disease prevention.
Physical activity, specifically exercise, is an integral component of any disease prevention strategy. Your family medicine physician can be your go-to resource if you need expert advice on how to optimize your exercise routine and reap its benefits, such as weight loss, increased energy, better sleep, and improved physical strength and overall health.
Here are a few of the specific ways your family practice doctor can help you with physical activity.
Devise an Individualized Exercise Program
Your doctor can tailor your exercise program according to your preferences, overall health, and other important factors.
If you have a chronic condition, such as diabetes or hypertension, your family medicine physician can work closely with you to create a suitable exercise program for your specific health problem. Your exercise program may consist of low-impact exercises, such as walking, strengthening, and stretching, If you prefer walking as your main exercise, your doctor can prescribe a certain number of miles for you to walk each day.
Your doctor will monitor your progress as you get going in your exercise program. If your goal is weight loss, your doctor will keep track of your weight over a period of weeks or months.
Recommend Daily Step Count
If you have a job or lifestyle that doesn’t make it quite easy for you to adhere to a proper exercise program, your family physician may recommend that you count your steps to monitor how much physical activity you have each day and suggest ways to increase it.
Your doctor may recommend that you get up every hour from your desk and take a 10-minute break to walk. If you have a more active job, getting in enough steps should be easier. Aim for a goal of 5,000 to 10,000 steps per day. Most smartphones have step trackers or you can invest in a step tracking bracelet, such as a FitBit.
Recommend a Personal Training Program
If you are someone who needs structure to fit in physical activity, your doctor may recommend you work with a personal trainer, who will make sure you are performing exercises properly and safely.
Personal training is a great way to get focused attention and develop an exercise plan that is tailored to your specific needs. You may want to get started by working with a personal trainer a few times per week. Your personal trainer may also give you exercises to do at home in between sessions.
Family Medicine Physician in Irmo, SC
At SC Internal Medicine Associates & Rehabilitation, we also have board-certified family medicine physicians on our team who have made a name for themselves for providing high-quality and comprehensive healthcare services for people of all ages in Irmo and beyond.
We offer medically supervised weight-loss programs, through which we create an individualized diet and exercise plans, provide lifestyle counseling, and utilize other necessary interventions, ultimately helping our patients lose weight quickly but in the safest, most sustainable way possible.
If you’d like to make an appointment with one of our family medicine physicians, call us today at 803-749-1111 or fill out our convenient online appointment request form. We look forward to serving you!
