Promoting Physical Activity and Fitness: Supporting Individuals with Childhood-Onset Disabilities

'Anyone with childhood-onset disabilities, their parents, trainers in sports associations, assistants, sports teachers, and others who take care of people with childhood-onset disabilities in training or movement contexts should read this book and have it by their side as a guide in all phases of training.'

From the Foreword by Linda Sandström, Research Assistant and Physiotherapist, Lund University, Sweden (Linda has unilateral cerebral palsy)

'This book portrays useful and valuable information that providers may overlook when recommending physical activity for individuals with physical and functional limitations. The authors provide high-quality references and evidence-based resources throughout. The book is easy to read, regardless of the audience.'

'This book ... thoroughly describes how physical activity and fitness may be adapted safely to suit one's functional abilities.'

'It is a valuable resource for safely incorporating physical fitness in those with childhood-onset disabilities while considering possible comorbidities.'

'The book describes different scales and assessments specific to certain patient populations.'

'The book is intended to reach individuals with childhood-onset disabilities, their families, caregivers, and advocates, as well as healthcare providers such as physiatrists, therapists, trainers, and physiotherapists. The book meets the needs of its intended audience.'

'Both authors are renowned in their fields and focus their work on the determinants of health and physical activity in individuals with physical disabilities and impairments.'

'The early chapters beautifully explain physical activity and its implications on an individual's health. The exercise science primer in Chapters 1-2 is followed by general safety measures that should be considered prior to implementing a physical activity program, such as screening assessments.'

Ana Ortiz, MD, Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, for Doody's Publishers' Club

'I reviewed Promoting Physical Activity and Fitness with a background in health care and exercise science and even sports coaching of children with childhood-onset disabilities. After reading the foreword and introduction, I was not able to put it down because the need for physical activity to affect the physical, social, and emotional well-being of children with childhood-onset disabilities is so well understood and described by the authors. Including a description of what the book is and how to use it in the introductory chapter is especially helpful for the reader.

The 12 chapters are structured into two parts: with the opening chapters providing general information; and the final seven chapters providing information about several specific childhood-onset disabilities. Within the book’s chapters, subheadings allow for quick scanning of what is of interest to a specific reader.

Chapter 2 covers the principles of training and assessing physical activity in general but also provides special reference to children with childhood-onset disabilities. The next chapter extensively covers safety regulations, again translating this to children and (childhood-onset) disability and pathology. In Chapter 4, the authors give a complete overview of the different types of physical activity measures along with their (dis)advantages. Chapter 5 is entirely devoted to the promotion of physical activity across the lifespan. Children with childhood-onset disabilities might encounter many more barriers to being physically active than typically developing peers; understanding different theories of behavioural change can help to lead these children to a more active lifestyle.

In the second part of the book, a wide range of common childhood-onset disabilities are covered: cerebral palsy; developmental coordination disorder; spina bifida and childhood-acquired spinal cord injury; childhood-onset neuromuscular conditions; intellectual disability; autism spectrum disorder; and juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Each chapter starts with an overview, including common impairments, comorbidities, and medications. Next, the components of health-related fitness covered in the first part of the book (cardiorespiratory fitness and submaximal exercise capacity, muscular fitness, body composition, flexibility) are discussed. For each component, the reasons why it is evaluated are given, followed by information on how to evaluate each component; finally, either training principles specific to each childhood-onset disability or how physical activity affects the component in each childhood-onset disability are discussed. Each chapter concludes with suggestions for promoting a physically active lifestyle, while the voice of a person with lived experience of each specific childhood-onset disability provides added interest.

The authors did a great job of bringing together scientific knowledge, clinical knowledge, and lived experience to create a book that can be read by anyone with an interest in promoting physical activity in children with childhood-onset disabilities. I completely agree with the foreword: ‘Anyone with childhood-onset disabilities, their parents, trainers in sports associations, assistants, sports teachers, and others who take care of people with childhood-onset disabilities in training or movement contexts should read this book and have it by their side as a guide in all phases of training.'

Read the full review here at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/dmcn.15804

Patricia Van de Walle (Department of Rehabilitation Sciences and Physiotherapy, MOVANT, University of Antwerp; Movement Analysis Laboratory Antwerp)