Frank Frost worked as a long-distance truck driver for over 30 years, leading to weight gain and a diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes. After failing traditional medical advice, he met a doctor who focused on his personal interests and goals. This doctor prescribed a cycling course, leading Frost to rediscover cycling after decades. Health professionals can improve patient outcomes by giving social prescriptions, such as exercise or community activities, which have significant benefits for mental and physical health, emphasizing the importance of personal connection in healthcare.
For more than 30 years, Frank Frost worked as a long-distance truck driver, ferrying industrial chemicals across the U.K. I worked away from home six days a week, working up to 12-15 hours a day. My only exercise was looking for a fast food outlet in the evening when I'd parked up, says Frost, now 76.
When I, like most people failed, they made me feel weak and worthless, says Frost. Then, Frost met a doctor with a completely different approach one that changed his life.
The doctor also asked Frost about things he enjoyed doing as a kid, and discovered he used to love riding a bike. He gave him a prescription for a ten-week cycling course called Pedal Ready for adults getting back into cycling.
What Frost's doctor had done was give him a social prescription, says journalist Julia Hotz, who's written about Frost's experience in her new book The Connection Cure: The Prescriptive Power of Movement, Nature, Art, Service and Belonging.
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