Author Topic: Prescriptions for bikes  (Read 2523 times)

Prescriptions for bikes
« on: 26 July, 2020, 07:31:06 am »
According to this BBC news item, doctors' surgeries will be "encouraged to prescribe cycling in pilot areas identified as having poor health outcomes. Surgeries will provide access to bikes"....

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53541866

If it's anything like the £50 bike servicing voucher, then we'll be waiting until hell freezes over before it happens.

Re: Prescriptions for bikes
« Reply #1 on: 26 July, 2020, 07:36:28 am »
As you say, I’m not holding my breath on this one

A

PaulF

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Re: Prescriptions for bikes
« Reply #2 on: 26 July, 2020, 07:37:41 am »
Good luck in even getting a bike. Was chatting to my now not so local bike shop owner and he was saying that orders keep getting pushed back. We ordered a bike for my wife in May which we picked up last weekend. The day after she ordered it she change her mind on the colour. They kept that order for another customer and it was delayed from July to October.

The stocks in my local Decathlon and Halfords are both very depleted

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Prescriptions for bikes
« Reply #3 on: 26 July, 2020, 07:38:14 am »
Maybe they mean that there'll be a door on the bike shed.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: Prescriptions for bikes
« Reply #4 on: 26 July, 2020, 07:47:51 am »
Just more populist rhetoric.  I hope that somebody is keeping track of all these vacuous promises from bozo bunter.

GP:   You need to go on this diet and ride a bicycle more.

Patient:   I don't own a bicycle and there is nowhere safe around here for a novice like me to cycle anyway.

GP:   Hmmm....

Whatever happened to all these improved facilties for walking and cycling that were announced?  We had some very temporary arrangements hastily installed in Rugby then removed very soon after.  Businesses and the local Council bleated like spoiled brats not even considering what is best for people getting around in a socially-distanced manner and now the roads seem to be even more hazardous than pre lockdown in my opinion.

IJL

Re: Prescriptions for bikes
« Reply #5 on: 26 July, 2020, 07:19:32 pm »
Exercise on "prescription" is not a new idea, I have been able to refer patients for 3 months free membership off the local gym/pool for years.  Take up is good but unfortunately not from the people who most need to lose weight.  Therein lies the real challenge of motivating those who most in need.  The people who are a little overweight know that 6 weeks work will have a big impact, people who are significantly obese are looking at months and months of work and changing their way of life.


FifeingEejit

  • Not Small
Re: Prescriptions for bikes
« Reply #6 on: 26 July, 2020, 09:37:13 pm »
It's not a new thing at all, one of the GPs round this way apparently used prescriptions for exercise as a way of boosting his GMS money before retiring to the Bahamas.
Was hearing about it mid to late 2000s

Jaded

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Re: Prescriptions for bikes
« Reply #7 on: 26 July, 2020, 10:31:20 pm »
Just more populist rhetoric.  I hope that somebody is keeping track of all these vacuous promises from bozo bunter.

In one.
It is simpler than it looks.

Re: Prescriptions for bikes
« Reply #8 on: 27 July, 2020, 12:24:50 am »
Same issue as usual surely? To succeed, walking and cycling need to be built into lifestyles. During lockdown, it's happened somewhat specifically for exercise. As life returns to normal, it's going to need to be for daily transport. That means quite a rethink on infrastructure, an end to shopping centres and other destinations that can't be reached, or aren't attractive to reach, without a car, and positive action to make driving less attractive as an option.

Some leisure cycling routes aren't going to do it. And giving out bikes is likely just to result in bikes in sheds. What happened in lockdown is that people took their own cars off the road, and then were more willing to come out on foot and on bikes.

Kim

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Re: Prescriptions for bikes
« Reply #9 on: 27 July, 2020, 12:33:49 am »
Birmingham has shown a modest amount of success[1] from giving out bikes:  https://www.ashden.org/winners/birmingham-bikes

But obviously this is Birmingham.  Once the newbies get past the wobbling-in-the-park and lead-rides-on-cycle-routes stage, they tend to discover the tedious reality of an impenetrable city centre, oppressive motor traffic, and that bikes really need racks and mudguards.

You do see the bikes (often with the afore-mentioned upgrades) being used as practical transport, but that must be a small minority.


[1] This is specifically as a public health intervention, rather than an attempt to create a modal shift in transportation.

Re: Prescriptions for bikes
« Reply #10 on: 27 July, 2020, 01:21:25 am »
At least if they're not adverse to a little swimming they have more canals than Venice - some of which are beginner friendly.  Also Rea Valley route from the South*.  But, yes, the centre has become even more impenetrable since they added the tram line.

* I have heard rumours that there is a North Birmingham, in which there may be naturally occurring cycle-friendly stuff.  I belive there lies only deth and dragons though.
simplicity, truth, equality, peace

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: Prescriptions for bikes
« Reply #11 on: 27 July, 2020, 02:03:12 am »
Exercise on "prescription" is not a new idea, I have been able to refer patients for 3 months free membership off the local gym/pool for years.  Take up is good but unfortunately not from the people who most need to lose weight.  Therein lies the real challenge of motivating those who most in need.  The people who are a little overweight know that 6 weeks work will have a big impact, people who are significantly obese are looking at months and months of work and changing their way of life.

Back when I lived in the UK, I was given a prescription for exercise. I went to the local Gym, and got 3 months membership, and a training plan and a tour of all the machines. I don't think I lasted the 3 months. Being a fat woman in the Gym is not a pleasant experience. The Gym I was sent to was also noisy, and bright, and sensory overload. The gym membership was free, but the sports bra I needed to be able to do any exercise without being in total agony was £50.

When I injured my feet and was sent to a podiatrist,with the referral from my GP that I had gone from regularly walking 20+km, to being unable to walk 2km due to foot pain. The podiatrist said to me "Your weight isn't helping, have you considered walking for weight loss?" FFS.

Even when I was doing 1000+km a month, with weight slowly disappearing doctors would still assume fat == no exercise. I got told by one doc to cycle more. When I went back and said I'd done just over 2000km since our last appointment, but that wasn't as much as the 2400 I had done in the same time before the previous appointment and I was worried I couldn't fit any more cycling in, his face was wonderful...

I don't know what the solution is to the obesity problems of our society. But I know that many people are going out of their way to make it a damn site harder than it needs to be...

That said, cycling to work can be a really effective measure. If you're work is 7.5km away, that's 15km per day, which is 375kcal of exercise. If you don't change your diet and were already eating enough to maintain your weight, that will lead to a weight loss of about 200g a week. Not fast, but steady it adds up... it's 10kg over a year.

But cycling to work requires infrastructure... and a waterproof jacket... and a reliable bike... and a commute that is far enough to be good exercise, but not too far away... 

J
--
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http://b.42q.eu/

Re: Prescriptions for bikes
« Reply #12 on: 27 July, 2020, 07:37:25 am »
How will the scheme work to accomodate different size bikes for different size people?
I can't imagine GPs have access to bikes of various sizes. :hand:

ian

Re: Prescriptions for bikes
« Reply #13 on: 27 July, 2020, 01:18:46 pm »
Lifestyle changes, really. An occasional cycle around the local park isn't going to change a life spent driving everywhere, where the only exercise is walking five metres from your car parked on the double-yellows to the KFC counter and a Saturday afternoon stroll across a retail park car park. Which is a truism for the growing number of people in sedentary occupations.

Cycling is undoubtedly a good thing: regular aerobic exercise, if it were a pill, would be the wonder drug and worth trillions.

Lifestyle change is hard work. To encourage people to make that effort requires concerted policies and significant investment and a willingness to upset vested interests. If you want people to cycle to work, then that has to be possible, and that has to be an aim and there has to be policies and investment to support that.

We know that none of these things are planned and they'll be back to let-build-a-bigger-road (which is also handy as a the usual council response to their self-declared climate emergencies) soon enough. They'll probably launch another committee and invite everyone's favourite junk food presenters to share their opinions (they'll care a lot, of course).

Re: Prescriptions for bikes
« Reply #14 on: 27 July, 2020, 01:38:26 pm »
How will the scheme work to accomodate different size bikes for different size people?
I can't imagine GPs have access to bikes of various sizes. :hand:
I hadn't imagined GPs going into the cycle supply business. Surely they'd issue what amounted to vouchers to take to an LBS? Or perhaps to a single major chain, if it goes like bike insurance has.

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: Prescriptions for bikes
« Reply #15 on: 27 July, 2020, 01:40:10 pm »
How will the scheme work to accomodate different size bikes for different size people?
I can't imagine GPs have access to bikes of various sizes. :hand:
I hadn't imagined GPs going into the cycle supply business. Surely they'd issue what amounted to vouchers to take to an LBS? Or perhaps to a single major chain, if it goes like bike insurance has.

Which cycle chains supported brexit? They will get a bung from the government, so prescriptions will be for a voucher you take to said chain shop... No doubt some mandatory Helmet bollocks will be included... But lights won't be...

etc... etc...

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Re: Prescriptions for bikes
« Reply #16 on: 27 July, 2020, 01:54:47 pm »
How will the scheme work to accomodate different size bikes for different size people?
I can't imagine GPs have access to bikes of various sizes. :hand:
One size fits all small wheeled shopper machines.  The object is to get people exercising which they certainly would on such things (I have one) not to foster some TdF fantasy.

CrazyEnglishTriathlete

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Re: Prescriptions for bikes
« Reply #17 on: 27 July, 2020, 03:09:07 pm »
How will the scheme work to accomodate different size bikes for different size people?
I can't imagine GPs have access to bikes of various sizes. :hand:
One size fits all small wheeled shopper machines.  The object is to get people exercising which they certainly would on such things (I have one) not to foster some TdF fantasy.

I often get asked by people advice on what bicycle that would be best for them.  I find this difficult - if I was presented with a standard one-size fits all bike I wouldn't ride it (or at least not for very long or very far)  and I suspect that this would even more the case for those who find it hard to get motivated for exercise.  (I suspect that the median distance that a bicycle is ridden in its life is less than 100 miles- as many get used once or twice and then gather dust in a garage).

My standard answer is to get one that is comfortable, not to be blinded by sales about speed and spec (which are motivated by getting more revenue), and you are happy to sit on.
Eddington Numbers 130 (imperial), 182 (metric) 571 (furlongs)  114 (nautical miles)

Re: Prescriptions for bikes
« Reply #18 on: 27 July, 2020, 03:38:18 pm »
How will the scheme work to accomodate different size bikes for different size people?
I can't imagine GPs have access to bikes of various sizes. :hand:
One size fits all small wheeled shopper machines.  The object is to get people exercising which they certainly would on such things (I have one) not to foster some TdF fantasy.

Yeah, Moulton Double Pylons all round  ;D

Re: Prescriptions for bikes
« Reply #19 on: 27 July, 2020, 04:57:47 pm »
.... you are happy to sit on.

This important matter is to be discussed on R4 Womans Hour from 10am tomorrow.

Wowbagger

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Re: Prescriptions for bikes
« Reply #20 on: 27 July, 2020, 06:53:07 pm »
It's a great idea. You'll be able to go on your prescription weight-loss bike to KFC to buy your two-for-one "Rishi Sunak" meal deal.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Re: Prescriptions for bikes
« Reply #21 on: 27 July, 2020, 09:53:58 pm »
Best way to get to KFC if you're going.