It’s Green Gym, but not as we know it
Examining the historical roots of voluntary sector provision of social prescribing focusing on gardening on prescription in the UK
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12691377 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Robert Piggott (0000-0001-6361-7882, University of Huddersfield, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | medhum-2025 |
| Publication date | 2026-03-13 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Medical Humanities (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1468-215X • E-ISSN: 1473-4265 |
| Publisher | BMJ (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1136/medhum-2025-013594 |
| PMID | 41825959 |
| OpenAlex | W7135214870 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 96 |
Academic research on green prescriptions tends to locate the history of nature-based health interventions in either the ancient world or in non-Western medical traditions. However, the use of horticulture as therapy is better situated in its use in medical institutions from the late-18th century onward. Though recast as medical therapy, horticultural activities for patients often began as a cost-saving measure. Focusing on tuberculosis sanatoria, the article draws analogies between the institutional use of horticulture as therapy and green prescriptions to provide a critical framework for understanding modern social prescription programmes
General partnership · Health centre · Medical prescription · Newspaper · Psychological intervention · Public health · Situated · Voluntary sector · Art Therapy and Mental Health · Occupational Therapy Practice and Research · Urban Green Space and Health
The Promise of the Suburbs
Social prescribing for frequent attenders in primary care
A League of Their Own
Non-clinical community interventions
Turning the ordinary into the extraordinary – Experiences of providing farm-based day care for people with dementia
Nature-Based Interventions and Mind–Body Interventions
Let Nature Be Thy Medicine
What approaches to social prescribing work, for whom, and in what circumstances? A realist review
Horticultural Education in England, 1900-40
The arts and the social determinants of health
Citizenship by vitality
Alder Hey’s heart of gold
Enhancing relational care through expressions of gratitude
Pine fresh
Critical medical humanities
The Daily Mail Rose
Care farms as a space of wellbeing for people with a learning disability in the United Kingdom
Nature's good for you
Mortality decline by cause in urban and rural England and Wales, 1851–1910
First Aid and Voluntarism in England, 1945–85
Crackpots and basket-cases
Its many workers and subscribers feel that their services can still be of benefit’
The material consumptive
Morals and mignonette; or, the use of flowers in the moral regulation of the working classes in high Victorian London
The past, present, and future of nature and place-based interventions for human health
Amateur Gardening and Popular Recreation in 19th and 20th Centuries
Mental recovery, citizenship roles, and the Mental After-Care Association, 1879–1928
Wretched, Hatless and Miserably Clad
Doing 'our bit
Victory for volunteerism? Scottish health board elections and participation in the welfare state
The legacy of voluntarism
A Triumph of Brains over Brute
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |