Public health and physical activity

There has been a proliferation of physical activity included in public health policies in the last decade (DH, 1999, 2004a; DCMS/Strategy Unit, 2002) and an evidence-based practice in physical activity promotion within primary care has emerged (Crone et al., 2004). The most common programmes available are Physical Activity Referral Schemes (PARS). Such schemes involve the referral of primary care patients by a health professional (usually GP or nurse) to an exercise provider for a programme of supervised physical activity normally within a leisure centre setting (Crone et al., 2004).