Becoming a Therapeutic Exercise Specialist will help you develop exercise programs for people with a wide variety of special conditions – including the
43 million Americans who live with arthritis and the 4 million women who give birth annually in the United States. Learn to safely and effectively work with people who live with metabolic disease and various musculoskeletal disorders, and how you can use exercise to boost their quality of life.
Our Therapeutic Exercise Specialty Certification is designed for fitness professionals and any allied health practitioners who use movement to treat patients living with a variety of special conditions. Personal trainers, group fitness instructors, physical therapists, occupational therapists or athletic trainers can use the knowledge they’ll gain to develop exercise programming for clients or patients with ailments, diseases or disorders that prevent them from falling under normal programming guidelines.
Our team of experts developed specialty certifications based on public demand and the knowledge they believed a well-rounded specialist should possess. Requirements for each specialty certification include a blend of courses created by ACE and those developed by our educational partners.
You must complete each of the courses described below. As you move through the required curriculum, you will earn continuing education credits (CECs) for each component. CECs will be added to your MyACE account as you go, allowing you to apply them to your current recertification requirements.
Once you complete all of the courses, you will automatically be updated in our system as an ACE specialist and a specialty certification will be uploaded into your My ACE account. Our specialty certifications do not expire. Purchase price includes all materials and the specialty certification itself.
Based on content from the ACE Advanced Health & Fitness Specialist Manual, this online course presents fitness professionals with the epidemiology and diagnostic criteria for coronary artery disease (CAD), blood lipid disorders and hypertension. Treatment approaches, including the role of exercise, also are covered for each condition.
You will learn:
- Describe the major health-related physiological effects of CAD, blood lipid disorders, and hypertension
- Define the characteristics of an individual with stable CAD and an individual with unstable CAD and decide which individual falls within the ACE-AHFS’s scope of practice
- List the various types of diagnostic tests used to identify CAD, blood lipid disorders, and hypertension
- Understand which fitness assessments are appropriate to use for individuals with cardiovascular disease
- List common treatment procedures for cardiovascular disease, including preventative, pharmaceutical, surgical, and exercise-related approaches
- Describe thermoregulation issues specific to individuals with hypertension
- Understand and implement exercise recommendations for individuals with cardiovascular disease, including CAD, blood lipid disorders, and hypertension
Based on content from the ACE Advanced Health & Fitness Specialist Manual, this online course presents fitness professionals with the epidemiology and diagnostic criteria for major metabolic diseases and disorders, including overweight and obesity, the metabolic syndrome and diabetes mellitus. Treatment approaches, including the role of exercise, also are covered for each condition.
You will learn:
- Describe the major health-related physiological effects of overweight and obesity, the metabolic syndrome, and diabetes mellitus
- List the various types of diagnostic tests used to identify overweight and obesity, the metabolic syndrome, and diabetes mellitus
- Understand which fitness assessments are appropriate to use for individuals with metabolic diseases and disorders
- List common treatment procedures for metabolic diseases and disorders, including preventative, pharmaceutical, surgical, and exercise-related approaches
- Describe specific biomechanical considerations for obese clients
- Explain the role of exercise in glucose regulation and diabetes management for clients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes
- List the risks of exercise in clients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes
- Understand and implement exercise recommendations for individuals with metabolic conditions, including overweight and obesity, the metabolic syndrome, and diabetes mellitus
Discover how the physiological changes associated with pregnancy may influence the design and effectiveness of exercise programming for this special population. Using Pre- and Post-Natal Fitness and ACE’s Guide to Pre-Natal Fitness, you’ll explore the benefits and risks of exercising during pregnancy as well as workout recommendations and the most popular exercise regimens.
You will learn:
- To understand benefits and risks of exercise during pregnancy
- To develop exercise programs based on specific needs of pre- and post-natal women
- Fetal risks associated with pre-natal exercise
- The role exercise plays in recovery from the birth process
Chronic musculoskeletal disorders like arthritis, osteoporosis, and lower back pain can present challenges for personal trainers and their clients. And with an astounding number of Americans suffering from those conditions, it’s important to know how to maintain physical exercise without furthering injury. Discover how to design and adapt exercise programs with modifications and progressions specific to musculoskeletal ailments.
You will learn:
- Risk factors, symptoms and health consequences of lower back pain, osteoporosis and arthritis
- Strategies for reducing risk of further injury and decreasing joint stress
- To design or adapt safe and effective exercise programs for adults with chronic musculoskeletal disorders
- Nutritional considerations related to osteoporosis
Combat the adverse effects of cardiovascular disease (CVD) among your clients with a better understanding of the role nutrition plays in heart health. Review current research that explores risks associated with CVD, and the effects of serum cholesterol, hypertension and improper diet. Learn to identify the causes of atherosclerosis and hypertension, and how and why drug therapy, nutrition and exercise can reduce risks for children and adults battling CVD.
You will learn:
- To identify and define different types of cholesterol and fats, and explain their role in cardiovascular disease
- Cause, effects and risk factors for atherosclerosis including high serum cholesterol, genetics, hypertension, obesity, diabetes, gender, age and smoking
- Effects of diet on hypertension and heart disease
- Step One and Step Two diets, and principles to use in designing meal plans
- Role of exercise in promoting health, fitness and weight loss