Leading Chinese university looks to Wintec to deliver exercise as medicine
When we think of medicine in the western world, images of pills and potions come readily to mind but there’s a growing realisation that exercise is medicine too. Wintec’s work in this field has inspired China’s top sports university and the two educators are working together.
Prescriptions for non-communicable disease, joint and muscle injuries are pharmaceutical-free at the Biokinetic Centre part of Wintec’s Centre for Sports Science and Human Performance, where patients are prescribed scientifically developed exercise programmes to reduce symptoms and increase overall wellness. This has synergies with Chinese traditional medicine where the focus is on ways to achieve balance, so the body can heal and maintain itself.
Last year, Professor Wang from Beijing Sport University (BSU), the leading institute for sport studies in China, visited Wintec’s Centre for Sport Science and Human Performance. She was excited about the chronic disease-specific exercise rehabilitation service offered at the Biokinetic Centre for the community, something she wants to introduce at BSU.
Wintec Biokinetic Clinic Supervisor and Clinical Exercise Physiologist, Amy Pearce says Professor Wang was also impressed with Wintec’s post-graduate course, Clinical Exercise Physiology, which is not offered anywhere in China.
“There are very strong synergies between Wintec and BSU, we have a mutual interest in improving the health of our communities through scientific exercise prescription and we actively recognise the value in academic exchange relationships.”
Wintec and BSU are both accredited with Exercise is Medicine® (EIM), a global health initiative managed by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). EIM encourages primary care physicians and other health care providers to include physical activity when designing treatment plans and refer patients to evidence-based exercise programmes and qualified exercise professionals.
Recently, Amy took up an invitation to travel to BSU to discuss ways Wintec and China’s leading sport educator could work together on student exchange programmes and collaborative research opportunities to reduce non-communicable diseases. While she was there, she presented several lectures at BSU.
“I presented my research on the “Role of Clinical Exercise Physiologists in Reducing the Burden of Non-Communicable Disease in New Zealand” and gave a lecture on knee injury. My lectures were directly translated to Mandarin which really confirmed language was definitely not a barrier.
“The experience confirmed that no matter what the language or culture, or how far away we are physically from each other as organisations, we have the same common link, Exercise is Medicine and it has a place in contemporary Chinese and New Zealand notions of wellness.”
While she was there, Amy met several BSU sport science students who were keen to know more about the opportunity to progress their study in Clinical Exercise Physiology at post-graduate level at Wintec.
Beijing Sports University (BSU) is working with Wintec to develop opportunities for exercise as medicine through research and an exchange programme.
About Beijing Sports University (BSU)
BSU is one of the National Key Universities and a Project 211 university under direct leadership of the General Administration of Sport of China. It is ranked as the top institute for sport studies in China and has a six-star status by the Chinese University Alumni Association (CUAA). It has provided a key platform for student-staff exchanges and distance education between China and the world and has established academic exchange relationships with 79 Universities from 34 countries and regions.
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