Exercise is a proven treatment for many of the most common chronic medical conditions afflicting Americans today.  Examples of some of these conditions include:

• High Blood Pressure
• Blood lipid disorders
• Diabetes/Impaired blood sugar control
• Arthritis
• Osteoporosis/osteopenia
• Cardiac disease
• Peripheral vascular disease
• Pulmonary disease

Exercise prescription is exactly what it sounds like -- the prescribed use of controlled exercise as one of several management strategies to combat established disease, or in the presence of sedentary individuals without known disease, to prevent the onset of disease from occurring. 

To be effective, exercise prescription needs to go beyond the traditional advice to "get more exercise."  Instead, the patient's lifestyle, activity goals, current limitations and resources need to be taken into account, in order to develop an overall treatment plan that is individualized, realistic, and reproducible.  In addition, specific goals should be stated and worked toward, such as a reduction in the dosage of medication needed for proper blood pressure or blood sugar control.  Follow-up should focus on whether or not these goals are being met.