Use the Prescription Pad
Patients given written instructions on a prescription pad are
more compliant than those given verbal instruction.59 Furthermore,
physician’s advice ranks as a major motivating factor for
elders to exercise.60 The physician’s prescription pad is a
powerful, often underused, motivational tool. Physicians spend
proportionately more time discussing medications, smoking
cessation, and weight loss than exercise. It is beneficial to write
physical activity program prescriptions, providing added symbolic
importance to these recommendations. A month’s activity
program on a prescription pad motivates an elderly patient,
emphasizing the health importance of the goal.