Treating chronic illnesses through adapted physical activity

Adapted physical activity is at the heart of the news. It can now be reimbursed by health insurance, particularly for cancer patients.

Martin Ducret, doctor and journalist at Doctor’s Daily, tells us today about adapted physical activity (APA), exercises programmed by a health professional, adapted to the patient’s pathology, their physical condition and their desires.

franceinfo: This is important news that you are telling us about today, which particularly concerns people affected by cancer pathologies?

Martin Ducret: Yes, adapted physical activity, APA, is at the heart of the news because since last December, it can be reimbursed by health insurance for cancer patients.

Indeed, in the case of cancer, “of numerous studies prove that physical activity is beneficial at any time during patient care. explained to me Dr Jennifer Arrondeau, oncologist at Cochin Hospital and with whom I work in the exercise and sports medicine department at the Hôtel-Dieu hospital in Paris.

First of all, it is effective in preventing the occurrence of many cancers, such as breast and colon. “Then, during cancer treatment, physical activity improves quality of life, Dr. Arrondeau told me. It reduces anxiety, the feeling of fatigue, and slows down the loss of muscle mass. After treatment, it allows you to recover more quickly and for certain cancers to reduce the risk of mortality.”

But does adapted physical activity concern other diseases? Not just cancer patients?

Yes, absolutely. It is beneficial for a large number of chronic diseases, including diabetes, obesity, depression, myocardial infarction and chronic bronchitis (COPD), to name a few.

In practice, how does the care of a patient take place?

For example, in the department where I work, the patient, referred by a doctor, receives a medical assessment and a physical assessment by an adapted physical activity teacher (EAPA).

This health professional (whom I have already spoken about in a column) will then establish an individualized program within the department, of 3 half-days per week for six weeks, adapted to the patient’s state of health, to gain in endurance, build muscle, and teach him to know his body better, thanks to various activities: exercise bike, table tennis, archery and many other fun exercises of all kinds.

At the end of the six weeks and twice over a year, the patient is re-evaluated to see the progress in his state of health, and the APA teacher provides him with suggestions for practicing at home, in a club or an association. The goal of such a program is to give him a taste for physical activity, so that he does it regularly over the long term.