Researchers say movement may be medicine’s most underused tool

If movement can change disease risk, recovery, mood, and survival, why is it still handed out like a wellness tip instead of prescribed like medicine? Researchers at the University of the Witwatersrand say that question is now unavoidable, because the evidence points to exercise as one of the most powerful tools in health care and one of the most neglected. The challenge is no longer whether movement matters, but why doctors, insurers, and health systems have been so slow to treat it as essential care.

Why movement belongs in the treatment plan

Wits researchers argue that exercise should not be reduced to a fitness goal or a lifestyle preference. Their point is simpler and more radical: movement acts on the body across several systems at once, shaping circulation, metabolism, inflammation, mood, and resilience after injury or illness. In practical terms, that means physical activity can do more than help people feel better, it can help prevent disease and improve recovery in ways that matter across the lifespan.

That framing is especially important because the benefits of movement are often misunderstood. Too many people think exercise only counts if it is intense, long, or athletic. The research says the opposite: even modest physical activity can make a measurable difference, and it is available to many people at little or no cost. That makes it unusually powerful in a world where chronic disease and sedentary habits are common.

What the evidence says about risk and recovery

The public-health picture is hard to ignore. The World Health Organization says 31% of adults and 80% of adolescents worldwide do not meet recommended physical-activity levels. It also says insufficiently active people face a 20% to 30% increased risk of death compared with those who are sufficiently active. On top of that, the WHO estimates that physical inactivity could cost public-health systems about US$300 billion globally between 2020 and 2030 if levels are not reduced.

The WHO’s 2020 guidance sets a clear benchmark for adults: 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week, or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous activity, plus muscle-strengthening activity for all age groups. The organization says physical activity contributes to the prevention and management of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes, and also reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety. That combination makes movement a rare intervention with benefits that span body, brain, and behavior.

Wits researchers have added another crucial layer to that picture. They say even a single day of inactivity can trigger measurable changes in the cardiovascular and musculoskeletal systems. In other words, the body registers motion, and it registers the lack of it too. The signal is not subtle, and it helps explain why small, consistent movement can matter more than dramatic bursts of effort.

Cancer care is part of the story, not a separate lane

The argument for movement gets even stronger in cancer prevention and survivorship. The American Cancer Society reported in May 2024 that a large analysis of 72,462 participants in the Cancer Prevention Study-II found lower estimated 14-year risks of any cancer and obesity-related cancers among adults who did at least 15 MET-hours of activity per week. ACS translated that level into roughly 300 minutes of moderate activity or 150 minutes of vigorous activity.

Then, in 2025, ACS reported that leisure-time moderate-to-vigorous physical activity after a cancer diagnosis was associated with improved survival across multiple cancer types, including breast, colon, lung, and prostate cancer. That matters because it shifts movement from the prevention column into the treatment conversation. Exercise is not just something people do before illness; it may also help them live longer after diagnosis.

For health systems, that should change the default response. If physical activity can influence cancer risk, survival, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and mental health, then it is not a side note. It is a therapeutic lever that deserves the same seriousness as other interventions, especially when clinicians are trying to reduce recurrence, improve function, or support quality of life.

What Wits is building around exercise medicine

The University of the Witwatersrand has spent years turning that idea into institutional practice. Its Center for Exercise Science and Sports Medicine was established in October 2004, became Africa’s first FIFA Medical Centre of Excellence in 2008, received Gold status from the global Exercise is Medicine initiative, and was renamed the Department of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine in 2022. That timeline shows movement medicine is no longer just a theory at Wits, it is a built-out academic and clinical field.

The university is also backing that work with physical infrastructure. The R300 million Wits Brian and Dorothy Zylstra Sports Complex launched on May 30, 2026, with openings to athletes, patients, and the public planned for September. Wits says the integrated complex will include research laboratories, consulting rooms, and a cardio-metabolic exercise rehabilitation center focused on chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, hypertension, obesity, and diabetes. That is a notable shift: it places exercise not only in recreation spaces but inside a clinical and research setting.

Professor Demitri Constantinou has said exercise before, during, and after illness is “one of the most powerful interventions available” and is still under-prescribed. That critique lands at the heart of the health system problem. If movement is effective, low-cost, and broadly accessible, then the bottleneck is not patient interest alone. It is whether care models are built to recommend, support, and follow up on physical activity the way they do other therapies.

The equity question cannot be ignored

The equity argument is just as important as the clinical one. Exercise is often treated as a private choice, but access to safe movement is shaped by money, time, neighborhood design, disability, work schedules, and social support. A person with flexible hours, a safe park, and access to a clinic that offers guided rehabilitation is playing on a very different field from someone juggling shift work, chronic illness, and transportation barriers.

South Africa’s data show why this matters. One Wits article says deaths from noncommunicable diseases such as type 2 diabetes and hypertension increased by more than 58% between 1997 and 2018. It also says 47% of South African adults do not engage in any physical activity, while only 19.8% meet WHO guidelines. Those numbers describe more than individual behavior; they point to a system where the burden of chronic disease is rising while too few people have the conditions needed to move regularly.

That is why “movement is medicine” cannot remain a slogan. If it is to mean anything in practice, insurers would need to cover exercise referral, supervised rehabilitation, and prevention programs with the same seriousness they apply to drugs and procedures. Doctors would need time, training, and tools to prescribe activity in realistic doses. Public-health agencies would need to treat active living as infrastructure, not inspiration.

What a movement-first health system would look like

A serious movement-based care model would not ask people to become athletes. It would normalize small, sustainable increases in daily activity and build them into routine care for chronic disease, cancer support, mental health, and recovery after illness. It would recognize that exercise is not a magical fix, but a powerful intervention whose effects accumulate when it is realistic, consistent, and matched to a person’s condition.

The larger message from Wits, the WHO, and the cancer research is consistent: the body responds to movement, and so do health outcomes. The most effective medicine is not always bottled or injected. Sometimes it is built into ordinary routines, protected by policy, and taken seriously enough to change how care is delivered.