Best practice in assessing clients for clinical exercise services

Bahl, Dollman and Davidson in this month's sport and exercise medicine section report on the results of a Delphi study examining the evidence defining the critical domains in subjective assessment that guide the clinical exercise physiologist's decision making. They suggest that twenty three domains need to be addressed in a clinical assessment to ensure the delivery of safe exercise prescription. Mendis and Hides outline the results of a randomised intervention comparing motor control exercises for the hip musculature versus wait list control on muscle dimensions on MRI. Using ultrasound shear wave elastography to assess Achilles tendon stiffness, Ying and colleagues described increased stiffness in frequent exercisers compared to infrequent exercisers. In an examination of exercise effects on cognitive performance Johnson and co-workers found that even light physical exercise is associated with better levels of executive function in the brain.