The Fitness Industry Association (FIA) and the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) have published a new set of guidelines, aimed at helping GPs with their exercise referrals.

The guidelines are based on the findings of a joint working party between FIA and CSP and have been designed to help GPs decide whether a patient's schedule and rehabilitation should be managed by a physiotherapist or a fitness instructor.

Ann Green, chair of CSP said: "In the past there may have been some confusion as to what roles physiotherapists and fitness instructors can play.

"We believe these guidelines will be extremely useful for GPs and other health professionals as we all tackle this critical issue."

The guidance includes the suggestion that a physiotherapist is best placed to manage exercise programmes where pain or decreased function limits activity - or where there is an underlying condition that poorly controlled - and a fitness instructor is best placed to manage exercise programmes where the condition is under reasonable control and where further progress in function and fitness is likely.

FIA chief medical officer, John Searle said: "By having clear guidelines for referral to physios or fitness instructors, we can effectively get more people back to an active and healthy lifestyle."

The FIA and CSP both form part of the Joint Consultative Forum, a forum set up by the FIA to establish the use of exercise in the preventative and management of disease.