Sport-Health Houses

Within its "sport, health, well-being, nutrition" theme, the National Union of Liberal Professions of Île-de-France (UNAPL IDF) has developed a series of videos on Sport-Health Houses to help professionals and the general public better understand their role and potential for the individuals and communities they support.

Created in 2019 by the French Ministry of Sports and the Ministry of Health, Sport-Health Houses (SHH) are a support system designed to promote physical activity and facilitate access to adapted physical activity (APA) for people living with chronic illnesses, physical or mental disabilities, or who are experiencing a loss of autonomy (1). As a public health priority, APA can now be prescribed by doctors as a therapeutic and/or preventative measure (2). The national network of SHHs currently includes 581 centres in metropolitan France and its overseas territories.

From a preventative standpoint, physical activity is an accessible tool to help young people and adults combat chronic physical and mental illnesses (i.e., cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancers, musculoskeletal disorders, psycho-affective disorders, and psychiatric illnesses) (3), which are the leading cause of death worldwide (4, 5), representing an economic burden of $2.35 trillion annually (6).

Physical activity directly addresses the risk factors associated with avoidable chronic illnesses, in  particular sedentary lifestyles, inactivity, unhealthy diets, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, and chronic stress, and has been shown to reduce the risk of their onset, while adapted physical activity (APA) is most important to insure its positive effects and avoid unwanted risks for people unaccustomed to regular physical activity (7 - 14). For these reasons, UNAPL IDF supports solutions for access to APA in the workplace, including the self-employed.

1. Ministère des sports, de la jeunesse, et de la vie associative. (2026). Maisons Sport-Santé. https://www.sports.gouv.fr/maisons-sport-sante

2. Mon Parcours Handicap. (2025). Qu'est-ce que le sport sur ordonnance ?. https://www.monparcourshandicap.gouv.fr/sport/quest-ce-que-le-sport-sur-ordonnance

3. Organisation Mondiale de la Santé. (2024). https://www.who.int/fr/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/physical-activity

4. Institut national de la aanté et de la recherche médicale. (2019). Activité physique : Prévention et traitement des maladies chroniques. https://www.inserm.fr/expertise-collective/activite-physique-prevention-et-traitement-maladies-chroniques/

5. Hacker K. (2024). The Burden of Chronic Disease. Mayo Clinic proceedings. Innovations, quality & outcomes, 8(1), 112–119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocpiqo.2023.08.005

6. Cicolella, A.  (2018). Santé environnementale et maladies chroniques, le coût de l'inaction. L'Économie politique, 80(4), 17-29. https://doi.org/10.3917/leco.080.0017

7. Ba, H., Zhang, L., Peng, H., He, X., & Wang, Y. (2024). Causal links between sedentary behavior, physical activity, and psychiatric disorders: a Mendelian randomization study. Annals of general psychiatry, 23(1), 9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12991-024-00495-0

8. Iob, E., Pingault, J. B., Munafò, M. R., Stubbs, B., Gilthorpe, M. S., Maihofer, A. X., Psychiatric Genomics Consortium Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Working Group, & Danese, A. (2023). Testing the causal relationships of physical activity and sedentary behaviour with mental health and substance use disorders: a Mendelian randomisation study. Molecular psychiatry, 28(8), 3429–3443. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-023-02133-9 

9. Aryannezhad, S., Mok, A., Imamura, F., Wareham, N. J., Brage, S., & Forouhi, N. G. (2024). Combined associations of physical activity, diet quality and their changes over time with mortality: findings from the EPIC-Norfolk study, United Kingdom. BMC medicine, 22(1), 464. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-024-03668-6

10. Franklin, B. A., Rusia, A., Haskin-Popp, C., & Tawney, A. (2021). Chronic Stress, Exercise and Cardiovascular Disease: Placing the Benefits and Risks of Physical Activity into Perspective. International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(18), 9922. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18189922

11. Palermi, S., Iacono, O., Sirico, F., Modestino, M., Ruosi, C., Spera, R., & De Luca, M. (2021). The complex relationship between physical activity and diabetes: an overview. Journal of basic and clinical physiology and pharmacology, 33(5), 535–547. https://doi.org/10.1515/jbcpp-2021-0279

12. Diao, X., Ling, Y., Zeng, Y., Wu, Y., Guo, C., Jin, Y., Chen, X., Feng, S., Guo, J., Ding, C., Diao, F., Du, Z., Li, S., & Qiu, H. (2023). Physical activity and cancer risk: a dose-response analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. Cancer communications (London, England), 43(11), 1229–1243. https://doi.org/10.1002/cac2.12488

13. Haas, M., Boiché, J., Chevance, G., Latrille, C., Brusseau, M., Courbis, A. L., & Dupeyron, A. (2024). Motivation toward physical activity in patients with chronic musculoskeletal disorders: a meta-analysis of the efficacy of behavioural interventions. Scientific reports, 14(1), 18740. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-67948-0

14. Proia, P., Amato, A., Drid, P., Korovljev, D., Vasto, S., & Baldassano, S. (2021). The Impact of Diet and Physical Activity on Bone Health in Children and Adolescents. Frontiers in endocrinology, 12, 704647. https://doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2021.704647