Health/Fitness Professional Should Be Permissible By Law

By nature, those in the health/fitness profession are helpers and quite often, they attempt to help in an area in which they were not trained or prepared. These professionals frequently overreach their training and knowledge because either they feel pressure from clients who believe them to be experts and/or the professional feel they have acquired enough knowledge to assist in other areas outside of their field of study. The medical field is a common profession, health/fitness professionals try to advise on despite not having been trained in the field. By law, a professional must be fully aware of what is permissible by law in a particular area. Additionally, health/fitness professionals should not provide medical advice to other individuals,

Sometimes health professionals become so excited about helping people become healthy, that they sometimes go beyond the barriers of their field. It is important to distinguish your duties and rights as a health/fitness professional from that of someone who is licensed to practice medicine. Health/fitness professional are not trained to practice medicine, therefore they cannot diagnose people, treat medical conditions, prescribe medications or treatments, or perform surgery. If a health/fitness professional beings to take on these duties not authorized of them, they are now committing crimes. It is against the law to practice medicine if one is not licensed to do so. Moreover, not only is it against the law to practice medicine without a license, but it goes against one’s professional liability insurance. Professional liability insurance covers one’s decisions, but it does not protect against malpractice like it would for someone who practices medicine. Professional liability insurance protects one’s decisions within their field. To avoid going beyond one’s field limitation, it is suggested that health/fitness professionals review and know their professional code of ethics. In their code of ethics, professionals can view what is expected of them as professionals. By knowing what is expected of them, they can avoid legal issues. Furthermore, in acknowledging that it is illegal to give legal advice, there are ways to still help your clients. For example, by choosing your words wisely and making statements, rather than recommendations, one is able to still help their client. Also, by working with a licensed health professional, one is able to form a partnership in which both professionals can help each and still help the client. The goal of the health/fitness profession is to help the client and