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46th Walter J. Zeiter Lecture, Exercise Is Rehabilitation Medicine: Our History and Future
Author(s) -
Becker Bruce E.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
pmandr
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.617
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1934-1563
pISSN - 1934-1482
DOI - 10.1016/j.pmrj.2015.02.013
Subject(s) - nothing , citation , psychology , library science , classics , medicine , philosophy , computer science , history , epistemology
In Greek and Roman mythology, Apollo was the physician deity and the father of Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine. Asclepius and his wife Epione had 5 daughters. Hygieia was the eldest daughter of Asclepius and the goddess/personification of good health. Whereas Asclepius was more directly associated with healing, Hygieia was associated with the prevention of sickness and the continuation of good health. Hygieia’s symbol is the snake, which was combined with the rod of Asclepius to form the symbol of medicine. The other daughters of Asclepius were Panacea, the goddess of universal remedy; Iaso, the goddess of recuperation; Aceso, the goddess of the healing process; and Aglea, the goddess of beauty [1]. Today the symbol commonly used for medicine combines the snake and staff of Asclepius with the winged staff of Hermes, the Roman god of commerce and the marketplace, as was pointed out by Dr Thomas Strax in his 2007 Zeiter lecture [2]. The combination is surely ironic given the current state of American health care. A physician named Susruta practiced in the Indus Valley of India in about 600 BC. Susruta was a strong believer in exercise, and his writings are the earliest record of an understanding of the health benefits of exercise. These writings are remarkably contemporary with respect to the current science of exercise. Susruta wrote that exercise should be practiced daily and that exercise should be taken to half one’s capacity [3]. Current American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) guidelines state that we should exercise 5 or more days/week or more when exercising moderately or in combination with vigorous exercise, and it is known that for aerobic conditioning to occur, sustained exercise levels ideally occur at 50%-70% of maximum heart rate, 60% of maximal oxygen consumption, or a Borg Scale level of about 13-15, which is about half of an individual’s capacity [4,5]. Susruta advocated moderate exercise because “it gives the desirable mental