Role of the Pediatric Exercise Scientist in Physical Education, Sports Training and Physiotherapy

Abstract

nnnn The purpose of this article is to present an overview of the research devoted to the relations of physical activity in children and exercise. The results of experimental studies on the benefits of extra, more intensive physical activity or with different styles of teaching are summarized. Most valid studies using the school environment do not reveal significant and beneficial effects.Longitudinal studies contrasting physically active and inactive children always show higher physiological characteristics in the highly active groups; however, these results are not conclusive because self-selection may have caused the differences. Training studies on aerobic power and on muscle strength show always significant improvements in both sexes, regardless of their level of biologic maturation. The general lack of physical activity in youths nowadays needs strategies to promote physical activity.Motivationally oriented programs with emphasis on the determinants of physical activity behavior of children are supposed to be the most effective and also to be long lasting.n Key words: Pediatric exercise, physical education, sports training, health promotion. Publications of Pediatric Exercise ResearchResearch in pediatric exercise has increased enormously during the past 30 years around the world, and publications appeared about the development of physical performance capacity in childhood and adolescence. This research is published in well-established international journals, such as J Appl Physiol, Eur J Appl Physiol, Eur J Pediatr, Am J Hum Biol, Ann Hum Biol, Int J Psychophysiol and Med Sci Sports Exerc. Also new specialized journals appeared, such as Pediatr Exerc Sci, J Adolesc and Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. Other new journals, such as lnt J Sports Nutr, Sport Psychol, J Sport Sci also pay more attention to research in children and adolescents. New textbooks appeared about Work Physiology by strand and Rodahl [1]. These authors were the first who included a chapter (ch. 11) on body dimension and muscular work, in which aspects of pediatric exercise were explained. After that, publications appeared about physical activity and growth [30], pediatric sports medicine by Bar-Or [4], exercise and children©s health [25], and a series of books called Advances in Pediatric Sport Sciences published by Human Kinetics between 1984 and 1989. More recently, Malina and Bouchard wrote a textbook entitled Growth, Maturation and Physical Activity [18]. Willmore and Costill included in their Physiology of Sport and Exercise [36] a chapter devoted to growth, development and the young athlete. The latest publication deals with pediatric anaerobic performance [23]. What is the impact of all this literature? Is this

How School Time Physical Activity Is the “Big One” for Daily Activity Among Schoolchildren: A Semi-Experimental Approach

“…The number of hours per week legally allocated to PE lessons (ie, a mandatory 3 hours of PE classes per week) in elementary school in France is, at least theoretically, the most important in the European region. 33 However, the questions about how this time is distributed into the school week and how it is used with the goal of enhancing children's participation in a daily MVPA remain to be addressed. Thus, future research endeavors are needed to evaluate the impact of all the existing opportunities for PA in the French elementary school context and to compare the overall MVPA of French schoolchildren to their European peers or from other continents.…”