Fit as Fido

Doctors Are Sometimes the Last to Know

04.07.2010 // Fit As Fido // Dawn A. Marcus, M.D. // No Comments

We neurologists like to think of ourselves as medicine’s Sherlock Holmes — investigating patterns of symptoms to figure out what part of your brain, spine, or nerves isn’t working correctly. We don’t have a lot of good tests to give us answers, so we really rely on discovering facts and clues from our patients. We often like to think of ourselves as being on the forefront of the latest medical research — but this year’s meeting of neurologists suggests that we’ve neglected our understanding of the importance of prescribing exercise to our patients.

At this year’s American Academy of Neurology meeting, a series of articles is being highlighted that promotes the benefits of exercise for a wide range of neurological conditions from pain to Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis to Alzheimer’s disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease to strokes, as well as many other diseases like anemia, heart and lung diseases, and depression and anxiety. These articles are made available through an organization called Exercise is Medicine. This organization is sponsored by the American College of Sports Medicine and challenges doctors to make exercise assessment and prescriptions an important part of every patient visit.

Have we, at Fit As Fido, not been telling everyone for the last year what every dog know instinctively — exercise is good fun AND good for you! I’m a neurologist and I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve learned some of my best health habits from my wheaten terriers who model excellent eating, sleeping, exercising, and socializing habits. When I think back to my long hours of classes, reading, and studying in medical school, I really don’t recall receiving instruction on the benefits of exercise. It was only when I actually began taking care of real patients that it was very clear that drugs, surgeries, and other medical treatments wouldn’t have much of an impact if a patient’s lifestyle habits were also not corrected. It’s nice to see medicine today focus on getting doctors educated about exercise. And what better way to get your health habits back on track than taking a lesson from Fido!

So order your copy of Fit As Fido today — and maybe you better also suggest your doc get a copy, too! Then you’ll both know the facts about getting healthy — the Fit As Fido way!