INTERVIEW
The cliché has had a hard time. How can one treat a patient through sport? How can physical activity relieve pain, prevent other pathologies and overall improve the life of a patient with a chronic illness such as diabetes or depression? Far from this denigration of sport in the management of a pathology, Professor François Carré, a cardiologist at the University Hospital of Rennes, estimates in Sans Rendez-vous on Europe 1, Monday, that the world of health "has long been deceived "before recognizing the benefits of physical activity for the sick.
The example of "football while walking"
At first there was bad advice, inappropriate prescriptions. "We were wrong because we were telling people 'walk' or 'ride a bike' without asking people if they liked to ride a bike," says François Carré. "Now, we have completely changed our minds by offering all the physical activities." And for good reason: the pleasure circuit must be activated for patients who are advised to play sports: "When we take this sports treatment for life, we understand that if we will do it three times per week. week and it's a chore, we're not going to do it, the goal is envy. "
" Until now, in compulsory medicine studies, there was no time on the prescription of physical activity "Today, doctors are no longer limited to advising, at the end of consultation, a little cycling, exercise or walking: the medical offer now covers a much wider spectrum of sports to advise patients, as the walking football, "proposed by the French Football Federation". "We reduce blood pressure, bad cholesterol and diabetes in people who play football by walking, we do not have the right to run, but we can make technical gestures."
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The lack of knowledge of the benefits of sport, which has long prevailed, is also due to the training of professionals. "Until now, in the compulsory medical studies, there was no course on the prescription of physical activity, but it will change, since the programs must change."
Two major obstacles
Two obstacles remain, however, for the full recognition of sport as in the medical world. First, "doctors must be convinced and believe the evidence we have, while patients must ask them if they do not prescribe sport".
Second, "the care remains a problem because there is a blockage on the part of the Social Security," laments Professor François Carré. "You have to know that things are progressing, we have heard the Minister of Health say that there is participation in cancer, it is not well defined but a gesture will be made." He also welcomes the fact that "several mutuals are starting to take charge" the prescriptions of sports sessions, possible since 2017. "Cities are involved in the costs of care, so things are being put in place."