PAR-Q and Health Intake Forms for Personal Trainers and Massage Therapists

Before you train or treat someone new, you need to know whether anything about their health changes what you should do. A PAR-Q (Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire) is the usual starting point for personal trainers, and massage therapists use a similar health and contraindication form. This guide covers what to ask, when to collect it and how to handle the answers.

This is general guidance, not medical or legal advice. Your insurer, training provider or professional body may set specific requirements, so check what they expect you to have on file.

Why collect it before the first session

• Safety. Some answers mean you should adapt the session, and some mean the client should get clearance from a GP or physiotherapist first.
• Time. A form completed at booking means the first session starts with a conversation about goals, not ten minutes of paperwork.
• A record. If something goes wrong, you have a record of what the client told you and when.

Questions for personal trainers (PAR-Q style)

The standard PAR-Q questions are yes/no questions. A "yes" does not necessarily stop the client training, but it tells you to ask more and possibly get medical clearance first. Typical questions include:

1. Has a doctor ever said you have a heart condition, or high blood pressure?
2. Do you feel pain in your chest at rest, during daily activities or when you exercise?
3. Do you lose balance because of dizziness, or have you lost consciousness in the last 12 months?
4. Have you been diagnosed with another chronic medical condition (other than heart disease or high blood pressure)?
5. Are you currently taking prescribed medication for a chronic medical condition?
6. Do you have a bone, joint or soft tissue problem that could be made worse by becoming more physically active?
7. Has a doctor ever said you should only do medically supervised physical activity?

The current version, the PAR-Q+, is published with its own wording and follow-up questions, so use the official form or your training provider's version rather than rewriting the questions yourself. Then add your own questions:

• Current injuries, or any surgery in the last two years
• Pregnancy or having given birth in the last 12 months
• Current activity level and any sports played
• Training goals
• Emergency contact name and phone number

Questions for sports massage therapists

Massage forms focus on contraindications: conditions where massage should be avoided, adapted or delayed. Common questions include:

• Any current injury, and when and how it happened
• Recent surgery, fractures or scar tissue in the area to be treated
• Blood clots or deep vein thrombosis, now or in the past
• Blood-thinning medication or other current medication
• Heart conditions, high or low blood pressure, diabetes or epilepsy
• Skin conditions, infections, rashes or open wounds
• Pregnancy
• Fever, or feeling unwell today
• Consent to treatment and to the therapist recording notes

Your training will have covered which answers mean you should not treat, which mean you should adapt, and which need GP clearance. Build the form around that list.

Turning the questions into an online form

• Use yes/no questions for screening. Checkboxes or a Yes/No dropdown are quick to answer and easy to scan.
• Add a "please give details" box after any question where a "yes" needs more information.
• Make the important questions required, so a client cannot book without answering them.
• Keep it short. A form that takes more than a few minutes gets abandoned. Save detailed history for the first session.
• Ask again when things change. Ask returning clients to tell you about any new injury or condition, or send the form again after a long break.

Looking after health information

Health information is special category data under UK GDPR, which means stricter rules on how you collect, store and share it. Only ask for what you need, keep it somewhere secure rather than in your phone's photos or a shared inbox, and tell clients why you are collecting it and how long you will keep it. The ICO's guidance on special category data explains what small businesses need to do.

Collecting the form with Slotivo

With Slotivo you can build a health questionnaire once and attach it to the services that need it. The client answers it while booking, and you can read the answers against the booking before the session. Questions can be short text, longer text, checkboxes or dropdowns, and can be marked required. Slotivo does not currently collect signatures, so if your insurer needs a signed form, keep that separately. See how this fits into the personal trainer and sports massage booking pages, or read the salon and studio intake forms guide.