KUALA LUMPUR – Exercise medicine can help prevent and manage non-communicable diseases (NCDs) by prescribing physical activities tailored to an individual’s health condition, according to exercise medicine specialist Prof Dr Muhammad Lee Chee Pheng.
He said exercise prescribed at appropriate intensity, duration and frequency could complement conventional treatments for conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure.
“Simply increasing physical movement is not enough. We need to understand how exercise works from a clinical perspective and prescribe it correctly,” he said in a statement to Bernama.
Muhammad Lee, who is the founder and chief executive officer of the Asia College of Exercise Medicine (ACEM), said greater awareness and training in exercise medicine could help healthcare professionals incorporate physical activity into patient treatment. This could potentially improve health outcomes and reduce reliance on medication in certain cases.
ACEM offers a 120-hour Professional Certificate in Exercise Medicine for doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, fitness trainers and health science students. Its modules cover NCD management, physical assessment, exercise biomechanics and sudden death prevention.
He said ACEM had partnered with Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Sultan Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah (UniSHAMS) to incorporate exercise medicine into medical education, enabling future doctors to advise patients on physical activities that are safe and appropriate for their health conditions.
The collaboration also includes research into serum potassium levels during exercise. Meanwhile, ACEM is developing exercise dosage protocols for various types of cancer and improving exercise prescriptions through ongoing research.
ACEM is also working with Comenius University Bratislava in Slovakia and the Hungarian University of Sports Science to develop testing equipment for exercise medicine research.
Muhammad Lee said the eighth World Congress of Exercise Medicine (WCEM 2027) would be held in Budapest, Hungary, from April 21 to 23 next year. The conference is expected to bring together researchers and healthcare professionals to discuss the latest developments in the field.
He emphasised that evidence-based exercise prescriptions and professional training were essential to ensure physical activity could be carried out safely and effectively to prevent and manage diseases.
-AWANI
