Announcing the 2024 Wellbeing for Australian Veterans and Emergency Services Symposium. If you are interested in attending please contact us at invictus@unisa.edu.au

Forty+ years working in the field of exercise science and I cannot believe that this turf war between allied health professions is still being perpetuated. This is so damaging to Australian health care. I was very disappointed and frustrated this week when the Australian Physiotherapy Association released a “factsheet” denigrating Accredited Exercise Physiologists (AEPs) with a series of inaccurate and misleading statements. AEPs are the most qualified and experienced allied health professional for assessment, prescription, and monitoring of clinical exercise. AEPs are especially effective in supporting patients with chronic diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, overweight and obesity, osteoporosis, sarcopenia, hypertension, chronic kidney disease, COPD, stress, anxiety, and depression. It should be noted that these are the diseases causing most of the health burden in Australia and clinical exercise has been proven through extensive research to be one of and in some cases THE most effective treatment. AEPs receive far more university education, training, and clinical practice in exercise than ANY other medical or allied health profession. University degrees in exercise physiology are accredited by the professional association, Exercise & Sports Science Australia (ESSA), under stringent requirements. AEPs must be graduates of accredited degrees and meet yearly requirements to retain accreditation. Medical and allied health professionals should be referring patients to an AEP for clinical exercise because it is a highly complex and specialised field. A cardiologist would never attempt to manage chemotherapy for a patient with cancer. For safety and effectiveness, it is crucial that medical and allied health professionals work within their scope of practice. It is also critical that we don’t denigrate other accredited professions. The President of Exercise and Sports Science Australia has released a statement Here is a link to the APA factsheet @ESSA_NEWS @apaphysio