The Escalating Gravity of Identity Theft
Jonathan A. Moore 

I WORK AT A BANK.  Now, this is something I never considered that I would do, and I have always conducted my own financial affairs with what I thought to be appropriate regard and relative security.  During the course of my employment thus far, however, I have been made acutely aware of one of the most harrowing crimes today: identity theft.  Given modern technology, it is now more possible to assume another’s identity and personal information with devastating consequences than ever before.  Victims of identity theft may suffer personal, financial, and even professional blows –often times severe in scope.  The most obvious issues inherent in this topic involve tangible variables, such as a person’s credit.  The bigger, yet perhaps les recognized, issue is not financial credit, but credibility.  A persons or professional’s public, perceived identity is the key to their credibility, potential, and potency.  In short, identity sets the standard.

Take you wallet out and look at your driver’s license.  When you took the test and proved yourself responsible, knowledgeable, and skillful enough to drive a car, they issue you this card.  What does it say?  It does not just say, “Driver’s License.”  No, it gives rather detailed information about you—your address, height, weight, eye color, et cetera.  This license say less about what you do, and more about who you are.  You are responsible individual, above a certain age, you have a permanent residence, and you may be seen driving a car around.  It says you are privileged, and that you have been trusted with a responsibility.  Today it is common to make copies of those cards, or to steal them, and thus abuse your identity, and the perception of who you are. 

In the same manner, professional identities are stolen.  Some instances are over, criminal acts, such as practicing medicine without a license.  Others, however, are not as obvious, especially to the general public.  If a particular field or profession is not regulated by credentials or licenses, and does not have standardized curricula for education of its members, then it is a simple matter for anyone to pose as a qualified member of that group.  This scenario may have little relative importance, or far-reaching and potentially dangerous implications, depending on the field.  In the case of exercise physiology, until recent years there has been no regulation whatsoever of professional activity or proper education.  In fact, the entity which has tried to lay claim to exercise physiology has done the opposite, encouraging individuals with various training and educational backgrounds to assume a specific title to which they have no right. 

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) is a successful organization, due primarily to its assimilation of several groups of individuals to small and nearsighted to strive for specific professional development within their fields.  Exercise physiology is not sports medicine, as nursing is not medicine as practiced by an MD.  They are very similar fields, supporting one another and dealing with the same patients, and they even have training according to the same specialties.  But they are not the same.  

The Pretenders
The state of the profession of exercise physiology is improving, but is still highly susceptible to fraud and quackery.  Currently, with no actual credentials required by government to practice exercise physiology, anyone can tout the name for themselves and dupe the public into thinking they have the same training, knowledge, and expertise as the degree individuals.  It seems that the hot bed today of such misperception and delusion is in the health and fitness club industry.  With the personal training boom, it has become common for those seeking help with the difficult task of initiating lifestyle changes to consult a personal trainer.  This is an individual who may have absolutely no formal education concerning exercise physiology—or any related field, for that matter.  They may have completed a two-day crash course in basic exercise science in order to get the job, and they probably look very good to the eye. 

It is not difficult to convince most people seeking fitness help that these in-shape, outgoing people who are employed by a club are “exercise physiologist,” and the trainers, in turn, use the title without hesitation.  This is a potentially disastrous situation; these uneducated individuals most likely will be giving guidance and advice unwarranted by a specific person’s needs, creating the potential for harm, even possibly fatal.  There are also other individuals eager to adopt the title of exercise physiologist for one reason or another—including even PhDs in closely related fields such as physiology, biomechanics, physical education, and others.  No matter the individual or situation, the adoption of a title with specific education and skills that accompany it by one who does not possess the knowledge or skills is very dangerous, not only to the public but also to those who rightfully claim the title.