Ruolo della medicina dello sport nella prescrizione dell’attività fisica come profilassi e terapia
There is incontrovertible evidence of the benefits of regular physical activity in the primary and secondary prevention of several chronic diseases, on contrary a sedentary lifestyle can progress into a Sedentary Death Syndrome (SeDS), which is a major Public Health burden due to its causing multiple chronic diseases and a large amount of premature deaths each year. In Italy, Sports Medicine represents a fundamental reference for those practicing physical activity at competitive or non-competitive level; its purposes include: health care of the athletes practicing all kind of sports, through the pre-participation screening for elegibility (such screening constitutes an established medical programme that has been implemented for more than 30 years), and the promotion of diagnostic and therapeutic protocols to guarantee the state of health of individual at high risk or carrying a specific diagnosed disease. Substantial evidence emphasizes the role of physical therapy in terms of an individualized sport-therapy, in the prevention of cardiovascular, metabolic, musculoskeletal, respiratory, rheumathic and neoplastic diseases, improving the clinical condition or, when combined with lifestyle modifications, favouring concomitantly the control or the regression of the pathology. Regular physical exercise as a prophylactic and therapeutic tool, is strongly recommended to reduce morbidity and mortality, to improve quality of life and to limit Public Health medical expenses.