Prospective Clients

Fitness care

As the health of Australians continues to decline it imperative that medical practitioners become actively involved in the assessment (diagnosis), prescription, measurement, management and monitoring the aerobic fitness, strength and flexibility of their clients.

It is estimated that close to 80% of medical clients have one or more personally-generated body system dysfunctions generated (in part or full measure) by the lack of a regular and systematic aerobic fitness, strength and flexibility training program.

The corollary is that for a significant proportion of these dysfunctions, poor function can be restored to good with the prescription of an appropriate aerobic fitness, strength and flexibility routine.

The Fitness Frontline initiative is designed to provide medical practitioners with:

▪ a range of health, fitness and wellbeing assessments, programs and resources for both themselves and their clients

▪ the confidence to work with fitness practitioners and fitness centres.

▪ the ‘tools’ needed to assess (diagnose), prescribe, measure, manage and monitor the aerobic fitness, strength and flexibility of their clients.

To sum up the situation, the closer association of the medical and fitness industries will lead to the addition of ‘fitness care’ in medical and fitness nomenclature.

Workers compensation insurers can play an important role in improving the health, fitness and wellbeing of the individuals that are covered by the organisation that employs them, by:

▪ insisting that the employees they insure take part in a range of health, fitness and wellbeing assessments each year

▪ including fitness assessment parameters in their premium-setting algorithms and work with and encourage (nay demand) that corporate organisations introduce fitness programs to improve staff health, fitness and wellbeing.

▪ insist the people being insured complete self-paced learning modules on a range of topics. No more will employees be able to say, ‘my employer didn’t give me any information.’

▪ insisting that some of the assessments and self-paced learning modules are covered by a ‘No ticket No start’ direction.

Fitness Frontline provides insurers with resources - assessments, seminar programs, books, audio files, self-paced learning modules, formats for exercise sessions ... to which occupational health managers and employees have free access.

As the health of Australians continues to decline and medical costs continue to rise, it’s imperative that health insurers give their members the greatest encouragement to keep themselves fit and health to the best of their ability.

Whilst it is illegal for health insurers to rate premiums against risk, it’s a good idea to know how fit and healthy their members are.

Working hand in hand with the medical and fitness industries, private health insurers have the capacity to provide their clients with regular fitness information, subsidizing health, fitness and wellbeing assessments and fitness classes and being instrumental in promoting a Fitne$$ Incentive program.

One way of stepping around the ‘everyone-pays-the-same-premium’ legislation is to provide those clients who can achieve an average of 4,000 steps and/or 20 Fitbit aerobic fitness zone points a day, with a monthly incentive of, say, $50. Add in an obligatory fitness assessment every 6-12 months.

To encourage people who are very unfit to be involved in the incentive program, they could get a doctor's certificate to lower the number of steps.

Insurance incentives will have the effect of lowering:

▪ the costs of medical services for insurers

▪ premium costs for all people who are insured

… and giving a reward to people who put a meaningful amount of effort into their health, fitness and wellbeing.

The fitness industry has come a long way in the last 40 years with the explosion in the number of community and commercial fitness centres, the development of courses and the registration of fitness practitioners.

In order to be ready for the Fitcare ‘invasion’ of clients, the next big developments in the industry will be to:

▪ focus attention on conducting assessments and fitness classes for ‘regular folks’ of all ages and levels of fitness - aimed at improving aerobic fitness, strength and flexibility. Why classes? … because people are more likely to attend regularly if they set aside specific times of the week to go to a fitness centre and when in a class, they will soon begin to experience the group cohesion of their other class-mates – and keep going.

▪ further enhance the qualifications and professional status of fitness practitioners working in fitness centres so they can assess, prescribe, measure, manage and monitor the fitness (aerobic, strength and flexibility) of their clients and the clients referred to them by medical and allied health professionals.

▪ give fitness centres and fitness practitioners this enhanced status of attending to clients referred by doctors and allied health professionals. Getting people to join classes instead of individual consultations will lower the costs of dealing with clients with body system dysfunctions generated by a lack of fitness.

▪ work hand in hand with the medical industry and Fitcare.

Although not really a client, driving fitness into the frontline of the health system is going to be a lot easier if the Government presents Medicare with a Fitcare offspring – and a budget to go with it. For too long there’s been a lot of talk about ‘preventive health’ and how much exercise people need to get every week – too much talk and not enough action – on both side of the fence – government and individual

The Commonwealth, stats and territory governments are being swamped by calls for more money to fund medical treatments. The state and territory governments are well on the way to spending 40% of their budgets on medical treatments, a large proportion of which are personally generated by people who exercise too little (and eat too much).

The governments of Australia are unaware of how fit people are, whether it be aerobic fitness, strength or flexibility and how much exercise people do each week.

Enter Fitcare.

In our opinion, the key objectives Fitcare are to:

▪ encourage the medical and fitness industries to take fitness seriously – and establish professional links between both industries, encouraging them to jointly assess, prescribe, measure, manage and monitor the fitness of the Australian community.

▪ underwrite the costs of fitness assessments and some fitness classes so doctors can refer people to fitness centres and fitness practitioners to manage their continuing improvement in aerobic fitness, strength and flexibility - and enrol them as regular members of fitness classes.

▪ fund a Fitne$$ Incentive program, where people can receive (say) $50 a month if they can achieve an average of 4,000 steps a day (or part thereof on the recommendation of a doctor or fitness practitioner. A look around at the local shopping centre testifies that there are a lot of people who need every encouragement to achieve even 1,000 steps a day.)

▪ incorporate fitness assessment results in the MyGov health record repository.

▪ contribute to the advancement of both fitness and medical practitioner professional development.

▪ reinforce in peoples’ minds the philosophy that universal health care is unsustainable unless those who wish to use it commit to keeping themselves fit and health to the best of their ability.

The Fitness Frontline website is designed to provide corporate organisations and government departments of all descriptions with resources to:

▪ improve the standards of staff health, fitness and wellbeing

▪ reduce unplanned absences

▪ reduce the cost of workers compensation claims, particularly for non-work-related, personally-generated, metabolic, musculo-skeletal and mental health dysfunctions

▪ reduce the cost of workers compensation premiums

▪ improve productivity

... and work hand in glove with workers compensation insurers to share the investment in health, fitness and wellbeing initiatives.

Corporate organisations are encouraged to involve family members in the system.

Very big corporate organisations will be encouraged to provide their customers with 'free' health, fitness and wellbeing resources.

Schools are the cradle of the love of health and fitness. Graduating fit and healthy students, children and adolescents, from every class, every year is something well worth aiming at.

Students becoming used to participating in a variety physical activities, including physed lessons and sport - and experiencing what good physical condition feels like - will more likely increase the prospect of them keeping themselves fit and healthy throughout their life.

Schools will be able to provide students with assessments, books, self-paced learning modules, the 20m run class competition …

Physiotherapists are in the vanguard of health professionals using strength and flexibility assessments and exercises to help restore poor musculo-skeletal health to good

It’s clear that fitness and wellbeing go together and that it’s in the interest of their clients that emotional support practitioners be active promoters of regular physical activity. A year’s ‘supply’ of regular (5 days a week) vigorous aerobic activity trumps a year’s supply of Prozac.

Use it or lose it. Lack of the fitness way of life throughout adulthood is a recipe for entering the twilight years unfit, unhealthy and immobile.

It’s a big ask expecting to restore poor health to better health by lying on the bed or sitting in a chair watching television.

There is a special need for fitness centres to enrol people of all ages in fitness classes and for aged care homes to conduct daily exercise programs, sitting down or moving around. Some people may even ‘take up their bed and walk’!

There is a sizeable number of people who ae self-motivated and just want to walk, cycle, swim or go to the gym on their own. These people would appreciate support and encouragement.

Whilst the Fitness Frontline concept is designed for corporate organisations and schools, for a modest subscription individuals can join the licensing system and receive access to all the resources, assessments and books.

As well as providing all government employees with the Fitness Frontline licensing program, it’s important that state and territory governments become more intensely involved due to the enormous financial load they are bearing due to the legal obligation of having to provide (mostly) free hospital care for everyone who goes to a public hospital.

Plus with hospitals being employers of vast numbers of people, not only does it makes sense for their staff to be participants in the Fitness Frontline licensing program it also makes sense for them to give their clients/patients access to the same resources, including fitness assessments and fitness classes.

For local governments, as well as providing their own staff with the Fitness Frontline licensing program, they can maintain close contact with community fitness practitioners and make ratepayers aware that they can enter the program under a community scheme or as individuals.

Generally speaking, when people end up in hospital it’s usually for an emergency of some sort. At the height of the emergency, it’s probably not a wise move to start proselytizing about the benefits of physical activity.

But when people are being discharged, a package of information with both general and specific information about fitness may be a good idea. Just getting some people walking or going to a fitness centre with Fitness Frontline class-based, fitness programs.

They say Australians love sport. Make that ‘some’ Australians.

Too many children don’t play sport. Too many schools have let sport slide into oblivion, as teachers have restricted their professional duties to inside the classroom, thereby leaving to chance some of the fitness and social benefits that sport gives to students, teachers and the school.

Too many adults gave up sport when they were in their thirties and never found another sport to continue playing.

Sporting organisations have the potential to attract not only children but adults to modified sporting activities – call it recreational sport.

Joining active recreational groups, big or small, local or town and city wide, promotes physical activity and social interaction. There are stacks of them.