Integrating Physical Activity in Primary Care Practice

Based on a collaborative symposium in 2014 hosted by the Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM) and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), this paper presents a model for physical activity counseling for primary care physicians (PCPs). Most US adults do not meet national recommendations for physical activity levels. Socioecological factors drive differences in physical activity levels by geography, sex, age, and racial/ethnic group. The recent Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act incentivizes PCPs to offer patients physical activity counseling. However, PCPs have reported socioecological barriers to physical activity counseling and also patient barriers to physical activity, spanning from the individual to the environmental (eg, lack of safe spaces for physical activity), policy (eg, reimbursement policies), and organizational (eg, electronic medical record protocols, worksite norms/policies) levels. The aims of this paper are to: 1) discuss barriers to PCP counseling for physical activity; 2) provide evidence-based strategies and techniques to help PCPs address these counseling barriers; and 3) suggest practical steps for PCPs to counsel patients on physical activity using strategies and supports from policy, the primary care team, and other support networks.