Summary

What it measures:

In the past, the likelihood of receiving exercise authorization from a physician had more to do with the physician’s personal views on exercise than the health status of the patient. (Hoffman, et al, 2016; Jamnik et al., 2011)  For example, physicians who exercised as often as 4.2 hours/week were more likely to allow exercise prescription regardless of patient condition than were doctors who did not exercise regularly.

The PAR-Q was developed in an effort to standardize activity screening for persons aged 15-69 years. (Chisolm, et al, 1975).  The revised PAR-Q (r-PAR-Q) was developed to improve specificity of the PAR-Q  by clarifying language. (Shephard, et al, 1981;  Cardinal et. al. 1996)  There are general screening questions which become more specific to each patient based on their answers.  

The PAR-Q+ is a 7-step questionnaire for use with persons of all ages.  It screens for evidence of risk factors during moderate physical activity and reviews family history and disease severity. If a person answers yes to one or more questions, the individual should complete a thorough follow-up of medical questions and consult a physician about beginning physical activity. An interactive on-line version for medical follow-up questions is provided by the ePARmed-X+. (Jamnik, et al, 2011; Bredin, et al, 2013)

If a consult with a physician is not recommended by the PAR-Q+, then the individual is cleared to participate in physical activity. (Jamnik, Gledhill, & Shepard, 2007; Joy & Pescatello, 2016)

Target Population:

This summary contains information on use of the r-PAR-Q and PAR-Q+ for patients or clients with conditions such as cardiovascular disease, history of cancers, chronic respiratory diseases, cerebrovascular accident or spinal injury, and their ability to participate in physical activity.