University of the Fraser Valley

Kinesiology students need clients for clinical course

Kinesiology students need clients for clinical course

Are you an adult with a clinical medical condition who would like a little help with fitness planning?

Students who are enrolled in a clinical exercise therapy course at UFV are seeking clients to work with in the upcoming semester.

Kin 463, Clinical Exercise Therapy, is the final course that students graduating in the exercise science stream of kinesiology complete in order to understand how to counsel and apply exercise testing and prescription to individuals that have one or multiple clinical conditions. A clinical condition can be defined as any disease or disease process that impacts the client’s health risk or how one would exercise in order to ensure programming is safe and effective.

This can include conditions such as; obesity, hypertension, type 1 and/or 2 diabetes, arthritis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart disease, or cancer, amongst others.

“I am looking for approximately 20 more individuals who would like this experience of working with students and receiving exercise programming in line with currently public health restrictions therefore either virtually or with appropriate physical distance measures in place,” says Dr. Iris Lesser, the course instructor. “In order for students to truly understand the experience of clinical exercise programming as well as the behavioral challenges behind exercise engagement, they are asked to complete a term project where they work in pairs with an individual with a clinical condition.”

Over the course of the term they engage in a pre-exercise clearance, medical history, and counselling, and then follow up with an appropriate exercise prescription that engages the client over the course of 6-8 weeks. Lastly, they assess how well their program has gone and any revisions that could be made to improve the client experience or the program itself.  The program will run from mid-May to mid-August. The first phase is counseling and interviews, and then a custom program is created that will start in mid-June.

If you are interested please contact Lesser at iris.lesser@ufv.ca with a short description of the clinical condition for which you would like to receive counselling and an exercise prescription.