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UK introduces bike riding prescriptions for good health

Photo credit: UK Department for Transport/Gear Change report

A health trial in the UK is exploring how doctors' prescriptions for patients to bike ride their way to improved mental and physical health could change lives and communities. 

The UK Government announced the initiative in August 2022 as a way of improving public health through "social prescriptions" for walking and bike riding.

This vision was outlined in its 2020 Gear Change report, which laid out plans to promote riding and walking across the country with "our bike lanes becoming huge, 24-hour gyms, free and open to everyone".

Initially, the focus will be on areas with poor health and low physical activity. Among the key objectives is to incentivise GPs to prescribe bike riding, noting that "taking up cycling is among the most effective health interventions a person can make".

Eleven council areas were earmarked for a share of the $26.8m program, which will go towards pilot projects such as bike riding training, free bike loans and riding groups. The pilots will be delivered with infrastructure improvements so people have safe places to ride.

This month, the UK Government has revealed the funding allocations for the 11 councils and shared details on how they will be used.

Bradford City Council, for example, will use $2.6 million to give patients free access to guided walking and bike riding activities, free bike training and bike loans.

Plymouth City Council will use its $2.3 million share of the funding to help individuals overcome barriers to riding and walking by developing personalised physical activity plans.

Active Travel Commissioner Chris Boardman says studies have shown active travel has massive health benefits. "Enabling everyone in England to travel under their own steam will help reduce conditions such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes, whilst at the same time, improving mental wellbeing." 

"We aim to use these trials to build on the existing evidence to show how bringing transport, active travel and health together can help build a healthier nation in an easy and sustainable way," Boardman says. 

The hope is that by promoting physical activity as a preventative health measure, the program can ease the burden on the UK's public health system.

"Prescribing walking and cycling will not only improve the health and wellbeing of people across the country but will also reduce pressure on the NHS and help people to choose more sustainable transport choices," Decarbonisation Minister Jesse Norman says.

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