Health & Fitness Journal of Canada

INTERNATIONAL RELEASE OF THE PAR-Q+ AND ePARmed-X+

We are pleased to release formally the new Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire for Everyone (PAR-Q+) and electronic Physical Activity Readiness Medical Examination (ePARmed-X+). The new PAR-Q+ and Q-AAP+ are found in this issue.

You are free to print the PAR-Q+ and Q-AAP+ use them in your daily practice (as per the instructions). We ask that you reference the risk stratification and physical activity clearance process (i.e, the PAR-Q+ and ePARmed-X+ and their various language versions) as follows:

Warburton, D. E. R., Jamnik, V. K., Bredin, S. S. D., and Gledhill, N. (2011). The Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire for Everyone (PAR-Q+) and electronic Physical Activity Readiness Medical Examination (ePARmed-X+). Health & Fitness Journal of Canada, 4(2), 3-23.

Please watch our journal and the PAR-Q+ and ePARmed-X+ website (www.eparmedx.com) for further updates to the PAR-Q+ and ePARmed-X+, including alternative versions for different regions and languages. In the near future, you will also see a national campaign highlighting the new risk stratification and revised physical activity participation clearance strategy.

This issue also contains an executive summary document, a validation paper for the PAR-Q+, and a brief summary of the recommendations that resulted from this extensive consensus process, involving hundreds of thousands of peer-reviewed articles. For more information on the systematic reviews, the consensus process employed, and the consensus document for the entire process please refer to the series of papers published in the July 2011 issue of Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism.

We are extremely proud of the work that our faculty and practitioners have done in creating this new risk stratification and physical activity participation clearance strategy. This work represents the culmination of over three years of work to reduce the barriers to physical activity participation for everyone, regardless of health status, age, or gender.

A heart felt congratulations to everyone involved.

Sincerely, the Health & Fitness Journal of Canada editorial team and the Health & Fitness Programs of BC and Ontario.