Sport on prescription: what role do the Sports and Health Centres play in Loiret?

As part of the fight against a sedentary lifestyle, health sports centres have been deployed in all departments. Who are they intended for? What are they for? We tried to find out by visiting the one managed by Gym Volontaire in Orléans.

“Physical activity, we don’t know if it’s good, but we know that a sedentary lifestyle kills.” Sophie Puisset, coordinator of the Maison sport santé de la Gymnastique bénévole in Orléans, must very often repeat this sentence when she welcomes people referred to her by a doctor. And she’s not exaggerating: studies show that a sedentary lifestyle is the fourth leading cause of death in the world.

The Maisons sport santé were created at the national level a few years ago to encourage those who no longer want to or have difficulty doing so to exercise. We have identified three in the department and visited one of them to see… how it works.

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Medical prescription

To enter a Maison sport santé, you need a doctor’s prescription. Since the system is not yet known to everyone, you can suggest it yourself if you are full of good resolutions for this new school year. It could be because you are overweight, your pair of sneakers have been sleeping at the back of the closet for years, you have diabetes and don’t know if it is reasonable to go running. Or for many other reasons…

Physical capacity assessment and personalized course

With a prescription in hand, at your first appointment at the Maison sport santé, you will be offered a physical capacity assessment. An interview will also allow you to express your wishes in terms of physical activities. “The notion of pleasure is essential, insists Sophie Puisset, so that you want to come back the following week. Depending on your abilities and desires, you will be offered a personalized health program.”

A physical fitness assessment is carried out before proposing suitable activities. Photo Ph.A.

Pleasure and proximity

The voluntary gym and its 80 clubs in Loiret offer a wide choice: not only muscle strengthening for the elderly, there are classes for children, cross training, choreographed activities such as Zumba and all the new trends, workshops where we work on cardio… And of course one nearby. “We know that if the person has to do 20 kilometers every week to practice sport, they risk getting discouraged, especially in winter”, notes the coordinator of the Maison sport santé GV.

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Adapting the effort so that the workshop does not turn into a torture session, encouraging, providing kindness and lifting up, this is the role of the sports educator.

Kindness and mutual aid

Camille Isnard is part of this team. When she welcomes a new participant, she has read the assessment that was carried out beforehand. She does not mention the pathology because the newcomer may not want to talk about it. She offers him a few tests to find out which part of the body is best to work on. But also to put his interlocutor at ease by showing him that his legs are not at their best but that his arms are rather efficient for example.

She might ask one to do three sets of an exercise, while another will do five. But there is no competitive spirit in the classes, which are all group classes. “They help each other, they pull each other up,” she notes.
An assessment will be made after six months, then another six months later. The goal is for the person to want to continue after having acquired a taste for physical activity at the Maison sport santé.

Sports and health centres in Loiret
EPGV Loiret health sports house. It can offer activities throughout the department, thanks to the 80 Gym Volontaire du Loiret clubs. Headquarters: 1, boulevard Rocheplatte, in Orléans. Tel. 06.36.83.55.09. [email protected] or site www.sportsante.fr. The assessment carried out upon entering the Maison sport santé GV is free. You are then asked to pay an annual membership fee to participate in an activity. The cost of this participation is often fully reimbursed by the mutual insurance company.
Orleans sports and health house. Nineteen activities offered. Membership fee 25 euros per year (can be covered by mutual insurance). 122, rue Faubourg-Bannier, Orléans. Tel. 02.38.77.49.53.
Ladapt health and sports house in Amilly. It mainly welcomes patients from the rehabilitation center but is open to all, on medical prescription, at 658D, rue des Bourgouins (near the hospital). Tel. 07.86.92.73.57.

Philippe Abline