As exercise physiology continues to develop as a profession, issues that challenge the exercise professional's integrity will increasingly occur.
Ethics is a system to assist in the analysis of such challenges.
This article reviews basic ethical principles and terminology, and provides a sample case analysis with application of ethical concepts. However, ethics has ready application for the clinician or academician of many health care disciplines, including that of exercise physiology. Exercise physiology does not exist in a vacuum apart from ethical issues. In fact, exercise physiologists in a number of employment environments are likely to encounter situations that could be categorized as ethical issues. Because the movement towards the professionalization of exercise physiology is relatively new, some graduates of exercise physiology programs may not have gained exposure to concepts in professional ethics.