Exercise, prescribed like medicine.
Every practitioner is AHCS-registered and personally verified.Every practitioner personally verified.
What is a clinical exercise physiologist?
Just as a doctor prescribes medication for a specific condition, a clinical exercise physiologist prescribes exercise. They are university-trained healthcare professionals who understand how different health conditions affect the body, and how the right type of exercise can help.
They are not personal trainers or fitness instructors. They hold at least a master’s-level qualification in clinical exercise physiology and are registered with the Academy for Healthcare Science (AHCS), the same body that regulates other allied health professionals in the UK.
A clinical exercise physiologist works with people managing conditions like heart disease, cancer, diabetes, chronic pain, neurological conditions, and post-surgical recovery. They design exercise programmes based on your clinical history, current health, and what your body can safely do, then supervise and adjust those programmes as you progress.
This isn't experimental. It's been standard care in Australia for two decades.
Australia shows what this profession looks like when it's fully embedded in healthcare. The UK is at the very start of the same journey.
Accredited exercise physiologists in Australia versus registered clinical exercise physiologists in the UK.
| Measure | Australia | United Kingdom |
|---|---|---|
| Workforce | ~6,500 accredited exercise physiologists | ~214 registered clinical exercise physiologists |
| Recognition | Established profession, decades of infrastructure | AHCS registration only opened in 2022 |
| Funding | Medicare-funded referrals | No established NHS pathway yet |
| GP referrals | 1.44 per 1,000 GP encounters (2016) | No established pathway yet |
| Economic case | Deloitte/ESSA: ~$10.50 returned per $1 spent on EP care | No equivalent study yet |
In Australia, an exercise physiologist is part of the standard care pathway. Your GP can refer you directly. Seeing a CEP isn’t something you have to go and discover. It’s simply part of how your care works.
The UK is where Australia was 20 years ago, and it’s moving fast.
Just 214 clinical exercise physiologists are registered in the UK today. That number is projected to reach around 1,600 by 2029. The clinical evidence is the same. The training is the same. What’s arriving now is the access, and you’re seeing the very start of it.
It's not just promising. It's proven.
Exercise, prescribed properly, produces measurable clinical outcomes. A few examples from the conditions clinical exercise physiologists work with.
26%
lower risk of cardiovascular death with exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation.
Pooled across 85 trials and 23,430 heart-disease patients, alongside a roughly 23% drop in hospitalisations.
Supervised, individualised cardiac rehab is core CEP work.
~50%
fewer complications after lung-cancer surgery with prehabilitation.
Within NHS ERAS pathways, prehab is linked to around 1.5 fewer days in hospital and up to 30% fewer complications.
A CEP delivers the exercise prehab, working alongside your surgical team.
Sources: Lung-cancer surgery prehab meta-analysis (RR 0.42); ERAS prehabilitation systematic review (2024/25)
up to 45%
of the weight lost on GLP-1 drugs (Ozempic, Wegovy) can be muscle.
Resistance training and adequate protein protect it. One early study saw about 13% weight loss with only around 3% muscle lost.
Protecting muscle on GLP-1 is almost uniquely a CEP's role.
Source: STEP-1 substudy (Circulation, 2024); early resistance-training data, not yet peer-reviewed
These are examples, not a full review. Every figure is referenced.
Who a clinical exercise physiologist can help
CEPs work across a wide range of clinical and chronic conditions, often alongside your existing medical team.
Cardiovascular
- Heart disease & cardiac rehab
- Hypertension
- Heart failure management
- Post-cardiac event recovery
Metabolic
- Type 2 diabetes
- Obesity & weight management
- Metabolic syndrome
- PCOS
Respiratory
- COPD
- Asthma management
- Post-COVID rehabilitation
- Cystic fibrosis
Musculoskeletal & Neurological
- Chronic pain & arthritis
- Post-surgical rehab
- Parkinson's & MS
- Stroke recovery
Oncology
- Cancer prehabilitation
- Exercise during treatment
- Post-treatment recovery
- Fatigue management
Mental Health & Ageing
- Depression & anxiety
- Healthy ageing & falls prevention
- Osteoporosis
- Cognitive health
Recognise your condition? Get matched with the right clinical exercise physiologist.
How a clinical exercise physiologist works with you
Every programme is built around your health, your history and your goals, and adjusted as you progress.
Assessment
Your CEP reviews your clinical history, current health and goals, and carefully assesses any risk before you begin.
A programme built around you
A structured, individualised exercise prescription based on your condition and what your body can safely do, not a generic plan.
Supervised progression
Sessions are monitored and adjusted as you improve. Safety is the starting point, not an afterthought.
Working with your wider care team
CEPs complement your GP, consultant or physiotherapist rather than replacing them, and share progress where it helps your care.
How to get started
However you arrive, we match you with the right clinical exercise physiologist. You never have to work out who's right for you. That's our job.
Refer yourself
You don't need a GP referral to begin. Tell us about you, and we'll match you with the right clinical exercise physiologist.
Get startedRefer a patient
GPs and consultants can refer with confidence. Every practitioner is personally verified for AHCS registration. Exercise specialists are too often left out of the multi-disciplinary teams that shape patient care, and outcomes suffer for it.
Get startedRefer
Self-refer, or a clinician refers you.
We match
We find the right specialist for your condition, on our side.
We introduce
We make the introduction and help you take the next step.
You book
We send the booking link once it's the right fit.
Our referral partners
We work alongside trusted charities and clinicians. Meet the organisations we partner with.
OncoMove CIC
Coyne Medical
We're practising CEPs. We built the platform the profession needed.
“Most of the UK still doesn't know we exist. Patients can't find us, and GPs don't know who to refer to. The Health Nav exists to fix that, not as a marketplace, but as the infrastructure the profession deserves.”
Ben DuckettCo-Founder & practising CEP“Exercise and nutritional interventions aren't one of the first treatments prescribed for lifestyle-related conditions. Exercise specialists like CEPs get left out of the multi-disciplinary teams that shape patient care, and outcomes suffer for it.”
Reilly SmithCo-Founder & practising CEPRefer yourself, or refer a patient
No referral needed to start. Tell us about you (or your patient), and we’ll match you with the right specialist.