Health Inequalities and Physical Activity

Physical activity follows a social gradient: the more disadvantaged a group, the less active it tends to be, and the fewer opportunities it has to change that.

For a sport and exercise medicine (SEM) clinician this matters twice over. Unequal opportunities to be active contribute to avoidable differences in health, and well-intentioned promotion can widen the gap it was meant to close: a campaign that works best for people who are already motivated, resourced and well served increases inequality even while the population average improves.

This page covers who is least active and why, and how to design promotion that narrows the gradient rather than widening it.