Special The Issue of BJSM — Guest editor – Professor Steven Blair

Leading international authors have agreed to contribute to this issue as part of the battle against physical inactivity. This is a terrific opportunity for you to publish your original research alongside wonderful perspective pieces from these authors. Any questions, feel free to email editor Karim Khan – karim.khan@ubc.ca.

Rationale — Why a special theme issue?

Research on the health benefits of regular physical activity has accumulated rapidly over the past few decades. There is now compelling evidence that physical activity has substantial health benefits for all. Physical activity prevents many of the major chronic diseases, delays loss of functional capacity, and extends longevity. The benefits of physical activity accrue to the young, adults, and older adults; to people with chronic disease and those who are healthy; and to people of all sizes and shapes.

Despite the now overwhelming evidence for the health benefits of physical activity, we have been slow to develop and implement broadly based public health strategies to increase and maintain activity in the population. One notable area of concern is clinical medicine, where, despite lipservice, physical activity interventions are rarely prescribed. To rectify this problem, we encourage clinicians to pay more attention to promoting physical activity during patient consults.This special issue of the BJSM reviews the current state of the science and provides practical recommendations as to how clinicians can implement effective physical activity interventions.Deadline for submissions to this issue: 1st August, 2008.