Contact: Kenneth Billings
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Mississippi State is joining a national health campaign organized by the American College of Sports Medicine and American Medical Association.
The goal of "Exercise is Medicine" is the treatment of chronic disease, as well as disease prevention and maintenance of a healthy lifestyle through physical fitness and exercise.
The university will launch its EIM initiative at 9 a.m. Wednesday [Sept. 9] on the Colvard Student Union's front lawn. Campus, national and community leaders will take part in the official announcement. (See www.health.msstate.edu/health).
MSU's Longest Student Health Center, kinesiology department and department of recreational sports' Sanderson Center are local co-sponsors.
For all interested individuals, a question-and-answer session at
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In conjunction with the EIM initiative, university physicians and nurse practitioners will be prescribing exercise to interested faculty, staff and student patients by referring them to the Sanderson Center, where they will be evaluated and given a personal exercise program. Patients' exercise habits will be tracked in the same manner as drug treatments.
Others may begin an exercise program by taking advantage of videos and instructions provided via www.exerciseismedicine.org.
In addition to the physician referrals, the Sanderson Center will provide MSU faculty and staff with a free one-month membership, and students will receive a free EIM towel when presenting the prescription.
"There are few chronic diseases that cannot be improved by a regular exercise program." said Dr. Bob Collins, University Health Services director. "While diabetes, heart disease and hypertension are the ones most often mentioned, arthritis, obesity, anxiety, and depression are all improved with a regular exercise program.
"Regular exercise is a necessary component of any rehabilitation protocol whether it is for acute injury or chronic problems," the longtime MSU physician added.
For those who do not need a physician's visit, exercise videos, detailed maps of campus walking areas and health fact sheets are available via the MSU Health Ed and EIM link listed above.
NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For additional information on the campus program, contact Joyce Yates, the Longest Student Health Center's health education and wellness director, at 662-325-7545 or jyates@saffairs.msstate.edu.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.