Clinical Exercise Physiologist

According to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), cardiopulmonary rehabilitation specialists provide exercise education, lifestyle modification, and psychological support in a clinically supervised setting. The American College of Sports Medicine Exercise Specialist certification is highly recommended (ASCM, p. 2). ASCM is the “umbrella” organization for exercise physiologists.

A cardiopulmonary rehabilitation specialists must select the appropriate equipment for their clients to use, design the exercise program (designing the order of the exercise, selecting the target heart rate, and selecting the intensity), and order the supplies. They should have knowledge about what cardiac rehab patients can and cannot do. For example, can a patient coming out of triple bypass surgery run on the treadmill at an 85% maximum heart rate?—probably not. During submaximal or maximal Graded Exercise Test (GXT) exercise physiologists use RPE scales to monitor the client’s exertion level; they take blood pressure and record the client’s heart rate. The test determines the client’s VO2max, which is an indicator of physical fitness. Lastly, they usually record the progress of the individuals and fill out medical form.

Exercise physiologists interact with many different fields of health science. At times, they must talk with the insurance companies to see if their client’s medical insurance will cover the maintenance phase. Most insurance companies only pay for rehabilitation and disregard preventative exercise. Medical physicians refer patients to exercise physiologist who need exercise and at times they may oversee certain GXTs. Nurses and dieticians provide educational lectures concerning nutrition and physical therapists, although most work in out-patient clinics, are present in the hospital setting to answer questions. Many physical therapists feel that they can replace the exercise physiologist, because their fields can overlap at times. This is why exercise physiologists are not currently licensed practitioners.

References

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