Ann Intern Med. I found three gems of statements. None was referenced, and I assume that each was the authors' common sense opinion. A physician's active interest and encouragement in how the patient is succeeding in becoming more physically active can be very helpful in increasing adherence. Physicians who set a good example themselves further enhance the importance of the message they wish to send to patients.
Physicians usually counsel their patients one at a time in a consultation room.
It is more effective and efficient to invite all the patients to a seminar on exercise as preventive medicine. The physician should dress not in a white coat but in sneakers and athletic clothes. The seminar would be held not at a medical facility but in a YMCA facility or public park. The weekly program should be graduated in distance and intensity to prevent musculoskeletal injury. After a few weeks, when metabolic and brain chemistry changes occur, motivation will become self-sustaining.