acsm.orgExercise is Medicine
Also: EIM
Initiative launched in November 2007 by the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Medical Association to get doctors to ask about, record and prescribe physical activity at every visit and refer patients to exercise professionals and community programmes. Now a global ACSM network including a campus programme.
- Years
- 2007–now
- Country
- United States
- Topic
- Physical activity
- Asks people to
- Seek helpStart
- Strategy
- Service linkTrusted messenger
- Channel
- Clinical settingWebsite
- Audience
- AdultsClinicians
Evidence
ObservationalMixed
Implementation in five primary care clinics of an academic health system (24,443 patients with a Physical Activity Vital Sign score): patients below guidelines rose from 57.7 to 95.2 min/week at 6 months, while those meeting guidelines fell from 253.8 to 208.3 min/week, a pattern consistent with regression to the mean; uncontrolled (Dayao et al. 2024). A single-arm referral programme for people with cardiovascular risk factors reported +64.7 min/week exercise, BMI -0.48 and systolic BP -2.9 mm Hg (Nemati et al. 2026). No controlled evaluation of the initiative found.
Sponsor (who paid)
- American College of Sports Medicine NGO, creator and lead
- American Medical Association NGO, co-launcher (2007)
Credits (who made it)
Not recorded yet.
Related campaigns
- Walk with a Doc 2005–now
- Every Body Walk! 2011
Sources
- American Medical News: ACSM and AMA launch Exercise is Medicine (26 November 2007) news · 2007
- ACSM: About Exercise is Medicine sponsor
- Dayao JKO et al. Implementation and evaluation of Exercise is Medicine in primary care clinics within a large academic health system. Fam Med Community Health 2024;12(1):e002608 evaluation · 2024 · DOI 10.1136/fmch-2023-002608 · PMID 38307706
- Nemati D et al. Evaluating the effects of the Exercise Is Medicine program on biopsychosocial and behavioral outcomes in individuals with cardiovascular risk factors. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2026;58(7):1377-1387 evaluation · 2026 · DOI 10.1249/MSS.0000000000003967 · PMID 41791037
- Peterson NE et al. Exercise is Medicine on Campus: a scoping review of evidence 2009 to 2021 and call to action. Curr Sports Med Rep 2022;21(8):289-302 reference · 2022 · DOI 10.1249/JSR.0000000000000978 · PMID 35946848
Research notes
Launch month from AMNews (fetched); exact date 5 November 2007 seen only in a search snippet. ACSM page (fetched) does not name AMA. More a clinical-practice programme than a mass media campaign. Both evaluations read as PubMed abstracts; Peterson 2022 from PubMed summary only. 'Physical Activity Vital Sign' wording from Dayao 2024.
Record cases/acsm-exercise-is-medicine.json, updated 2026-10-23· Link to this campaign