ACSM's Exercise Management for Persons with Chronic Diseases and Disabilities

While most fitness professionals recognize the benefits of exercise for individuals with chronic diseases and disabilities, many avoid prescribing exercise programs for such individuals because of a lack of practical, easy-to-apply information on the subject.

Now, thanks to ACSM’s Exercise Management for Persons With Chronic Diseases and Disabilities, clear and concise guidance is available for developing exercise programs for individuals with special health considerations. This one-of-a-kind book covers a wide range of chronic diseases and disabilities and for each condition provides the following information:

• Overview of the pathophysiology • Effects of the condition on the exercise response • Effects of exercise training on the condition • Management and medications • Recommendations for exercise testing • Recommendations for exercise programming • Suggested readings

Each chapter is written by a specialist who provides both theoretical and practical information on his or his field of expertise. And while it’s not an all-encompassing reference on exercise testing and prescription, the book does provide clinical exercise personnel, health club personnel, personal trainers, and others with an excellent framework in which to guide individuals with disabilities, chronic diseases, or multiple conditions.

J. Larry Durstine, PhD, FACSM, is director of clinical exercise programs and a professor in the Department of Exercise Science at the University of South Carolina. Since 1976 he has been involved in research focusing on the evaluation of exercise testing and training programs in healthy and diseased individuals. He has also spent the majority of his career developing and evaluating adult fitness programs. A member of the Board of Trustees for the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), Durstine has written extensively on the subject of exercise testing and prescription. He was the primary editor for ACSM’s Resource Manual for Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription and he was a contributing editor for Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription.

Lorraine E. Bloomquist, EdD, FACSM, professor emerita of physical education and exercise science at the University of Rhode Island, is the author of two course texts, Adapted Aquatics Manual and Manual for Kinesiology. She has also written numerous professional papers on the topics of exercise and sport for people with disabilities. Bloomquist is a past member of ACSM’s Administrative Council and Board of Trustees, and she is past president and current trustee of the New England ACSM.

Stephen F. Figoni, PhD, RKT, FACSM, is an associate professor in the Department of Physical Therapy Education at the University of Kansas Medical Center. In addition to having spent more than a decade doing research with spinal cord injury subjects, he has experience as a kinesiotherapist working in spinal cord injury rehabilitation and as a coach of wheelchair athletes.

Geoffrey E. Moore, MD, FACSM, is director of cardiac rehabilitation and an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh. A diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine, Moore’s areas of expertise include exercise intolerance in chronic disease and skeletal muscle dysfunction in chronic disease.

Patricia Painter, PhD, FACSM, is an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Physiologic Nursing and the graduate program in physical therapy at the University of California at San Francisco. Since 1980 Painter has worked in clinical exercise programming, specializing in developing exercise training programs for persons in rehabilitation following organ transplantation and for persons with end-stage renal disease who are being treated with dialysis therapy. She was on the editorial board for the third and fourth editions of ACSM’s Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription and the first and second editions of ACSM’s Resource Manual for Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription.

Kenneth H. Pitetti, PhD, FACSM, is an associate professor in the College of Health Professions and chair of the Department of Public Health Sciences at Wichita State University. Since 1984 the focus of his research has been exercise science as it pertains to persons with disabilities. He has authored or coauthored 28 published studies dealing with persons with spinal cord injuries, amputation, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, mental retardation, kidney failure, and Guillain-Barré syndrome.

Carol J. Pope, PhD, has taught adapted physical activity at both the public school and university level. Currently she is an associate professor of adapted physical activity at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. Pope is a member of the American College of Sports Medicine and the Adapted Physical Activity Council.

Scott O. Roberts, PhD, has worked as a rehabilitative exercise specialist and personal trainer for special populations, including people with chronic disease and disabilities, since 1986. He is the author of Clinical Exercise Testing and Prescription: Theory and Application and Exercise Physiology: Exercise, Performance and Clinical Applications. He is also an assistant professor of exercise and sport science at Texas Tech University, in Lubbock, Texas.