The never-ending story of physical activity and health

Abstract

The link between health and physical activity has been enshrined in medical lore since ancient times. Over 2000 years ago, practitioners in India, China, Greece and the Roman Empire espoused the importance of exercise for the maintenance and restoration of health.1 In the centuries that followed, the writings of Hippocrates and Galen centralised the role of physical activity in healthcare, a mantra echoed by sixteenth century practitioners such as Mendez (Book of Bodily Exercise) and Mercuriale (De Arte Gymnastica). As the sun rose on medicine as we know it, practitioners such as Buchan continued the leitmotif that ‘…exercise is not less necessary than food for the preservation of health’2 The twentieth century saw a boom in the promotion of physical activity in various forms under the guise of physical culture. Advocates such as Eugene Sandow believed that ‘exercise should be prescribed like medicine’ since movement was considered ‘…natures’ cure for disease’. He suggested that in the future, the medical practitioner ‘…will be a doctor of exercise rather than a doctor of …