Schools around the nation are attempting to increase the amount of physical activity (PA) students receive through a variety of creative means. Recently, organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Institute of Health (NIH) have sounded an alarm about the lack of time children spend in PA participation. The purpose…

Today's physical educators are more taxed than ever before, attempting to deliver health benefits, socialization, sport and movement skills, and health education all while class sizes are expanding and resources are dwindling. A potential mode of exercise that promises health benefits while leaving time for other student learning outcomes is…

Ratings of perceived exertion have been shown to be a valid method of monitoring physical activity intensity for both adults and children. As such, this subjective method may serve as an alternative to objective measurements for assessing students' performance on national standards 2 and 4. The OMNI-Child perceived exertion scales were…

Because children and adolescents are not just miniature adults, it is important to know that children might be vulnerable to injury and may not respond positively to certain types or intensities of training. It is also important to recognize how training can positively affect growth and development, so it can be judiciously applied at critical…

Evidence strongly supports a positive, causal effect of physical activity on bone strength and suggests long-term benefits of childhood physical activity to the prevention of osteoporosis. The contribution of healthy bone development in youth is likely to be as important to fracture prevention as the amount of late adulthood bone loss. Families,…

Exertional rhabdomyolysis gained increased attention recently when 13 football players from the University of Iowa developed this condition after an especially demanding practice session and were hospitalized. Exertional rhabdomyolysis may lead to severe kidney stress, kidney failure, and even sudden death. Anyone who does physical exercise at a…

Although physical activity may reduce lung function decline in youth with cystic fibrosis (CF), most patients are inactive. Little is known about why youth with CF are inactive or how to facilitate physical activity. This study explored perceptions toward physical activity in 14 youth with CF at a Canadian Hospital. Qualitative interviews were…

There is a lack of valid and reliable low cost observational instruments to measure moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in school physical education (PE). The participants in this study were third to tenth grade boys and girls from a south Texas school district. The SAM (Simple Activity Measurement) activity levels were compared with…

Children's natural play patterns provide opportunity for fitness development. Children typically do not care about the benefits of physical activity or the physiology behind the activities they perform, but they are very interested in participating in fun activities. Often curricula focus on how to feed children values that are important to…

In 2004, the Women's Sports Foundation published the first edition of "Her Life Depends On It" (Don Sabo, Kathleen E. Miller, Merrill J. Melnick, and Leslie Heywood). At that time, it was clear that evidence-based research confirmed that regular physical activity and sport provides the critical foundation, in no small part, that allows girls and…