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Fitness and Exercise

What Is Physical Fitness?
Physical exercise has many benefits. The American Heart Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all children participate in some form of physical activity every day. This includes children of all ages and of all abilities. This does not mean you need to spend large sums of money for fancy sports equipment or memberships to local gyms. Physical fitness does include many activities you can do at home, such as playing catch, going up and down stairs, and walking. Fitness is about improving one’s endurance, flexibility and strength through the use of physical activity.

What Are The Benefits Of Physical Activity?
Regular physical activity has many proven benefits, including:

• Improves heart health — By lowering blood pressure and cholesterol, exercises reduces the risk of heart disease and other medical problems, such as diabetes.
• Strengthens your bones — Exercise assists in building strong and healthy bones.
• Healthy Lifestyle — Research shows that children, who are active, remain active as adults. Exercise helps maintain or achieve an appropriate weight.
• Improves Wellness — Physical exercise improves one’s psychological well-being, gives you more energy, improves self-esteem and reduces stress.
• Increase confidence
• Increase strength and coordination
• Movement enhances learning — Movement prepares us to take in information and learn. Movement stimulates growth of nerve cells.

Why Is My Child Being Referred For Physical Therapy?
At Kenny Kids Rehabilitation Program, our pediatric physical therapists can evaluate your child to determine his or her gross motor (large muscle) strengths and weaknesses. Our therapists will also assess their muscle strength, endurance, flexibility and general coordination. The physical therapist can help design a fitness program appropriate for your child. If the physical therapist determines your child is having difficulty with strength or motor coordination, they may recommend direct physical therapy services.

What Can I Do At Home?

• Be a fitness role model. Try to make exercise a part of your family routine.
• Make fitness fun! Choose a variety of activities that your whole family can do together, such as walking, swimming or going for bicycle rides. You don’t have to start a strict exercise routine. Instead, make changes in your daily routine to include active play.
• Maintain a positive attitude towards physical activities and exercise.

What Can I Do At Home?

• Reduce sedentary time, such as time spent watching television, and playing video and computer games. The Centers for Disease Control found that the more time kids spend watching TV the less time they spend being active.
• Provide motivation and encouragement for your child. The use of motivational charts to monitor progress or sticker charts for participating in activities may be helpful.
• Give a gift or reward that encourages physical activity.

How Much Exercise Is Appropriate For My Child?
The American Heart Association recommends:

• All children age 2 and older should participate in at least 30 minutes of enjoyable, moderate-intensity activities each day.
• They should also perform at least 30 minutes of vigorous physical activities at least three to four days each week to achieve and maintain a good level of heart and lung fitness.
• If your child or children don’t have a full 30-minute activity break each day, try to provide at least two 15-minute periods or three 10-minute periods in which they can engage in vigorous activities appropriate to their age, gender and stage of physical and emotional development.

Safety Considerations

• Stop exercising if you experience pain, discomfort, nausea, dizziness, lightheadedness, chest pain, irregular heart beat, shortness of breath or clammy hands.
• Drink plenty of fluids, especially water.
• Wear appropriate clothing.
• Remember to take slow, deep breaths and “think tall” to maintain good posture.
• All children must wear helmets when on wheeled vehicles, including bicycles, skateboards, scooters, ATVs and snowmobiles. Making this a habit early is vital.

Try These Fun Ideas

• Set up an obstacle course in your back yard.
• Initiate a family play time one night a week. Have kids and parents take turns choosing activities the whole family can do. Some ideas are biking, walking, going to the playground, swimming, and playing tag or catch.
• Turn on the music and dance, or rent an exercise book/tape/video from the library.

Where Can I Learn More About Physical Fitness?

• American Heart Association
  National Center
  7272 Greenville Avenue
  Dallas, TX 75231
  1-800-242-8721
  www.americanheart.org
• American Academy of Pediatrics
  141 Northwest Point Blvd.
  Elk Grove Village, IL 60007-1098
  1-847-434-4000
  www.aap.org
• The National Center on Physical Activity and Disability (NCPAD)
  1640 West Roosevelt Road
  Chicago, IL 60608-6904
  1-800-900-8086
  www.ncpad.org
• The President’s Challenge
  501 N Morton, Suite 104
  Bloomington, IN 47404
  1-800-258-8146
  www.presidentschallenge.org

Sister Kenny Rehabilitation Institute
Kenny Kids Pediatric Rehabilitation Program
3111 124th Ave. NW
Coon Rapids, MN 55433
763-236-7337
763-236-8966 fax

First published: 06/27/2005
Last updated: 06/27/2005

Reviewed by: Sara Rohde, OTR/L, coordinator of the Kenny Kids program