Promoting health and supporting health conscious modes of behaviour through healthy sport activities and sport therapeutic measures are the focus of the association’s work.

Healthy sport should guard against adverse health effects as a form of prevention. Sports and exercise therapy contributes to recovery following adverse physical and mental impairments as a form of rehabilitation. Through this, the quality of life can be improved especially for the chronically ill and handicapped.

Tasks and aims

  • Development and constant adjustment of the sport and exercise related health support based on sports science as well as the establishment of sport and exercise therapy as a component of an efficient and affordable health system
  • Quality assurance and optimisation in all areas of health sport and sport therapy
  • Integration of sport and exercise therapy in ambulant out-patient, day-care and in-patient structures
  • Establishment of sport/movement therapy as a remedy
  • Optimisation of qualification structures in basic, advanced and further education for the further qualification of sports teachers/sports scientists for the fields of exercise based health support and sport therapy
  • Professional lobby group

In the pursuit of these aims, the DVGS orients itself towards the self generated definitions:

Exercise therapy

Is medically indicated and prescribed exercise, planned and dosed by therapists, controlled together with the doctor and carried out with the patient either alone or in a group.

Sport and exercise therapy

Sport and exercise therapy is an exercise based therapeutic measure which compensates for destroyed physical, mental and social functions with suitable sports remedies, regenerates, guards against secondary damage and supports health oriented behaviour.
Sport therapy is based on biological principles; especially includes training science, medical, pedagogic-psychology as well as social therapeutic elements and attempts to create enduring health competence. Sport therapy can be seen as a remedy in this regard.

Health sport

Are all targeted sport-pedagogic measures that contribute towards controlling or compensating for the negative effects of our lifestyles, the workplace as well as leisure time behaviours.
Health sport integrates training science, medical as well as pedagogic-psychological approaches and strives for behavioural stabilisation or change with the aim of improving the quality of life.