Four trends that will shape the future of exercise physiology

Technology has given practitioners and clients the ability to connect remotely and reduced barriers to treatment for those in rural parts of Australia. According to our experts, telehealth is set to keep growing in the next decade.

Clint Miller, accredited exercise physiologist and Course Director, Master of Clinical Exercise Physiology:

'We started implementing telehealth around 2014, when it was still fairly novel from an exercise perspective. Everyone seems to acknowledge that a psychology consultation could be done on video because there's no moving parts, but from an exercise perspective, it was difficult for people to acknowledge that you could do that by telehealth. I think over the last few years it's been clearly demonstrated that it’s possible, and it will be a bigger part of healthcare as we move forwards.'

Niamh Mundell, accredited exercise physiologist and Senior Lecturer, Master of Clinical Exercise Physiology:

'Digital health is still going to play a big role. We've still got a way to go with improving telehealth and then there's also a drive at a government level, to increase access to allied health, healthcare generally in rural and remote regions. I think it really needs some refining and developing but I don't see it going away at all... it's here to stay.'

Matt Clarkson, Master of Clinical Exercise Physiology alumus, accredited exercise physiologist and Course Chair, Master of Clinical Exercise Science and Rehabilitation at Victoria University:

'Accessibility to services in general has been rapidly expanded through COVID because of the emphasis on telehealth and telepractice. Being able to provide services under all these compensable schemes tied to telehealth has opened a lot of doors for people who might not have an EP close or a physio close or a GP that can see them in a timely manner. That’s now been ingrained as a permanent feature for a lot of those schemes like Medicare, the DVA and NDIS.'

These days, everything from your phone to your smart watch is collecting data. Industries across the board are becoming more data-savvy and exercise physiology is no exception. In the next decade, exercise physiologists are going to use data to not only customise treatment plans but also demonstrate outcomes and advocate for the industry’s contributions to health.

Steve Foulkes, Master of Clinical Exercise Physiology alumnus, accredited exercise physiologist and Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute:

'There are a lot of wearable technologies and platforms and apps and remote exercise delivery options that allow us to get quite complex physiological data and analyse that and use that to then individualise exercise and track sessions in real time.

'Hopefully now that smarter technology is becoming cheaper and more accessible, [that will] allow exercise to be more effective. We can really learn how we can tailor exercise and adjust exercise on a day-to-day basis rather than give someone a written piece of paper that has four exercises that they do for four weeks and they come back and see you and you don't know how well that's gone until you see them.'

Niamh Mundell:

'I think capturing data from our interventions is going to be critical so that we can continue to advocate for funding to get our services out to people that need them.'

Matt Pollard, Master of Clinical Exercise Physiology alumnus, accredited exercise physiologist and Manager of Exercise Services at Rise Health Group:

'You can't go anywhere at the moment without people talking about data and data-informed decision making. And so in healthcare, we're going to have to justify our outcomes a little bit better than what may be currently done.'

'I think traditionally, exercise physiology has been a strong profession to create outcomes because of our modality... it's hard for people to not get better in some way through exercise. It creates empowerment and a growth in self confidence in conjunction with improved health outcomes and so I think we’re well set up to prove that through data, further assisting in the growth of the industry.'

Across different places and industries, there’s a growing recognition that many systems were set up without adequate consideration of diversity. The future of exercise physiology involves a greater focus on health for people of different backgrounds and abilities.

Clint Miller:

'There's a big push at the moment for recognising greater diversity in the clinical populations that exercise physiologists serve now, and will continue to serve, and acknowledging the unique nature of some of those clinical populations. I think most courses around Australia, and within Deakin, are beginning to acknowledge, for example, a greater awareness and understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. This is an area that probably hasn't been visible enough within our course and across the healthcare landscape.

'Same with NDIS, disability and gender diversity. There's a lot of these changes that are happening in our society which will be reflected in healthcare approaches.'

Steve Selig, accredited exercise physiologist and founding Course Director, Master of Clinical Exercise Physiology:

'[We can] expand Indigenous health out to all of those groups of people who need exercise but are not doing it. So, it's not just Indigenous people, but it's any group of people in our society where the challenges of doing a sufficient health promoting exercise is overwhelming. I hope we can break those barriers down.'

There’s growing acknowledgement across the health sector that exercise is, in fact, medicine. In the next decade, recognition of exercise as an intervention that sits alongside traditional medication and therapies is set to keep increasing.

Matt Clarkson:

'[Previously], exercise for health was taken for granted a little bit and when it came to clinical populations, it was underutilised. But over time, it’s become more and more of a common vein of knowledge, and a lot of the standard treatments for different pathologies now heavily embed exercise in there and tie it to exercise physiology specifically. [For example], the Cancer Council has introduced exercise as a key core treatment in the progression of the disease, or mitigating the progression of the disease.'

'I think that's just going to be more and more emphasised as people start to realise that as an adjunct to essential therapies or treatments, exercise provides a lot of advantage in terms of elevating people's level of general health or their physical capabilities, retaining independence over time, etc.'

'It also has a clear parallel to using just medication, in that you can avoid using medication for some conditions altogether if you have a fairly robust engagement with exercise.'

Steve Selig:

'I would see exercise more closely integrated into cardiology in the next 10 years. We want our GPs and cardiologists to think about the value of exercise for their patients right at the start. And then they can hand it over to us. It doesn't have to be a monumental task... they've just got to find an exercise physiologist who's good at what they do.

'I think in the next 10 years, using exercise for better mental health is also a key factor. Exercise is a wonderful antidepressant, a wonderful antianxiety intervention. So, I see that as a contribution that we can make.'

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