Prescribing Exercise as Medicine for Patients Worldwide[Podcast Series]
[:54] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Petter Aasa
Petter Aasa is Co-Founder and CEO of Vitala
[1:05] Vitala inspiration
“One of the things that we could focus on in order to have an impact in the global healthcare system is just okay, how can we work more with prevention through lifestyle interventions? And how do we actually prescribe lifestyle interventions to patients just as easily as any other types of medication?”
[3:14] Physical activity prescription follow-up
“We are being prescribed as a mobile application to the patients, which is guiding them through daily physical activity that's completely based on the users’ unique combinations of their medical diagnosis and comorbidities, functional ability and physical capabilities, musculoskeletal pain levels, their varying daily form and, of course, their own goals and preferences.”
[7:54] Physical activity prescription barriers
“Number one, even though we all know that physical activity is important, a lot of the physicians or nurses or other providers, they don't really know how to exactly custom tailor physical activity to the patients and their unique health status, so we're doing that automatically just through our platform.”
[12:31] Healthcare provider response
“And I mean, our overall goal is that exercise is going to be the standard of care, no matter if it's for patients in the prevention of disease or during specific medical treatments. And looking at the way that we are working around these different challenges through our platform, through the new technologies, it's amazing to see the response of the provider once they have the right tools and they're starting to see the feedback and hearing the uptake in patient satisfaction, because at the end of the day, you become a healthcare provider because you want to help people.”
[17:48] Remote therapeutic monitoring
“And I think remote therapeutic monitoring is a big way to actually allow the incorporation, integration of exercise as medicine to patients. I mean, for just the musculoskeletal aspects and also respiratory diagnosis and the patient population as well, and how we are using, I mean, remote therapeutic monitoring and working with a lot of providers across the U.S. that are now starting their RTM programs around, you know, the way that we're prescribing exercise to these different patient populations…”
[23:50] ROI for exercise
“It looks like the best life hack there ever is. You know, we have people all over the world looking at different life hacks on YouTube and things for all kinds of scenarios in life. But just looking at the massive impact that exercise can have on one's life, it's absolutely amazing.”
[27:08] Exercise as a magic pill
“If exercise could be bottled into a pill, it would be almost illegal for every provider not to prescribe it to every single one of their patients. That's the way that, when we're actually looking at this like magical pill, that's the way that we should be seeing this as well.”
[29:54] Making exercise a standard of care for patients worldwide
“We said from the beginning, if we can make a change for one person, we're happy, we've done a great job. But now we're seeing the opportunity to actually have a global impact on millions and millions of patients worldwide, and really transitioning, how we're looking at, how we're working with patients, facilitating that, from the reactive care to the proactive care. And I think it's this, I think it's going to become the standard of care.”
