Do Children with Down Syndrome Perform Sufficient Physical Activity to Maintain Good Health? A Pilot Study

2009 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 307-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nora Shields ◽  
Karen J. Dodd ◽  
Casey Abblitt

Our pilot study investigated if children with Down syndrome engaged in the recommended 60 min of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) every day. Twenty-three children with Down syndrome (7 girls, 16 boys; mean age 11.7 years, SD = 3.1) wore a triaxial accelerometer for 7 consecutive days to measure their activity levels. The average daily MVPA undertaken was 104.5 min (SD = 35.3 min). Only 8 of 19 children (42.1%) completed at least 60 min of MVPA each day. Lower amounts of activity were associated with older children (r = -.67, p < .01). Parents, teachers, and health professionals need to encourage children with Down syndrome to take part in more frequent MVPA.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin E Wentz ◽  
Julia Looper ◽  
Kristi S Menear ◽  
Dipika Rohadia ◽  
Nora Shields

Abstract Children with Down syndrome often have lower physical activity levels compared to their peers with typical development and face challenges such as medical co-morbidities, access issues and societal stigma, to being physically active. Physical therapists are experts in exercise prescription and physical activity and are thus uniquely qualified to successfully promote participation among children with Down syndrome in spite of inherent challenges. Our perspective is that a shift in physical therapy service delivery is needed. We suggest that physical therapists change the focus of their interventions for children with Down syndrome from underlying impairments such as low tone or joint laxity, or from developing motor skills in isolation and ‘correct’ movement patterns. Instead, physical therapists should allow the physical activity preferences and the environmental contexts of the children and adolescents they are working with to direct the treatment plan. In this way, physical therapy intervention becomes more child centered by concentrating on developing the specific skills and strategies required for success in the child’s preferred physical activity. In this paper, we consider the role of pediatric physical therapists in the United States, as well as in low- and middle- income countries, in promoting and monitoring physical activity in children with Down syndrome from infancy through adolescence. Examples of physical therapist interventions such as tummy time, movement exploration, treadmill training, bicycle riding and strength training are discussed, across infancy, childhood and adolescence, with a focus on how to successfully promote lifelong participation in physical activity.


2012 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phil E. Esposito ◽  
Megan MacDonald ◽  
Joseph E. Hornyak ◽  
Dale A. Ulrich

Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine the physical activity patterns of children with Down syndrome. A cross-sectional approach and accelerometry were used to measure the time children with Down syndrome (N  =  104) spent in sedentary, light, and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Results indicated that adolescents from ages 14 to 15 years were the most sedentary and spent the least amount of time in light and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. A general trend of decreasing physical activity as children increase in age was found. This trend is similar to that found among typically developing youth. Participants in this study were found to spend a majority of their day engaged in sedentary activities. Results indicate that most participants were not accumulating the recommended 60 minutes of moderate or vigorous physical activity.


2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kylie Ball ◽  
Verity J. Cleland ◽  
Anna F. Timperio ◽  
Jo Salmon ◽  
David A. Crawford

Background:This study aimed to examine cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between socioeconomic position (SEP) and physical activity and sedentary behaviors among children and adolescents.Methods:Maternal education was reported by parents of 184 children 5 to 6 years old and 358 children 10 to 12 years old in 2001. In 2001 and 2004, physical activity was assessed by accelerometry. Older children self-reported and parents of younger children proxy-reported physical activity and TV-viewing behaviors. Linear regression was used to predict physical activity and sedentary behaviors, and changes in these behaviors, from maternal education.Results:Among all children, accelerometer-determined and self- or parent-reported moderate and vigorous physical activity declined over 3 years. Girls of higher SEP demonstrated greater decreases in TV-viewing behaviors than those of low SEP. In general, no prospective associations were evident between SEP and objectively assessed physical activity. A small number of prospective associations were noted between SEP and self-reported physical activity, but these were generally weak and inconsistent in direction.Conclusions:This study did not find strong evidence that maternal education was cross-sectionally or longitudinally predictive of children’s physical activity or sedentary behaviors. Given the well-documented inverse relationship of SEP with physical activity levels in adult samples, the findings suggest that such disparities might emerge after adolescence.


2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bianca Fox ◽  
Gwendolyn E. Moffett ◽  
Clara Kinnison ◽  
Grace Brooks ◽  
Laura E. Case

Author(s):  
Chih-Hsiang Yang ◽  
Jaclyn P Maher ◽  
Aditya Ponnada ◽  
Eldin Dzubur ◽  
Rachel Nordgren ◽  
...  

Abstract People differ from each other to the extent to which momentary factors, such as context, mood, and cognitions, influence momentary health behaviors. However, statistical models to date are limited in their ability to test whether the association between two momentary variables (i.e., subject-level slopes) predicts a subject-level outcome. This study demonstrates a novel two-stage statistical modeling strategy that is capable of testing whether subject-level slopes between two momentary variables predict subject-level outcomes. An empirical case study application is presented to examine whether there are differences in momentary moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) levels between the outdoor and indoor context in adults and whether these momentary differences predict mean daily MVPA levels 6 months later. One hundred and eight adults from a multiwave longitudinal study provided 4 days of ecological momentary assessment (during baseline) and accelerometry data (both at baseline and 6 month follow-up). Multilevel data were analyzed using an open-source program (MixWILD) to test whether momentary strength between outdoor context and MVPA during baseline was associated with average daily MVPA levels measured 6 months later. During baseline, momentary MVPA levels were higher in outdoor contexts as compared to indoor contexts (b = 0.07, p &lt; .001). Participants who had more momentary MVPA when outdoors (vs. indoors) during baseline (i.e., a greater subject-level slope) had higher daily MVPA at the 6 month follow-up (b = 0.09, p &lt; .05). This empirical example shows that the subject-level momentary association between specific context (i.e., outdoors) and health behavior (i.e., physical activity) may contribute to overall engagement in that behavior in the future. The demonstrated two-stage modeling approach has extensive applications in behavioral medicine to analyze intensive longitudinal data collected from wearable sensors and mobile devices.


2021 ◽  
pp. 089826432110209
Author(s):  
Guilherme M. Balbim ◽  
Susan Aguiñaga ◽  
Olusola A. Ajilore ◽  
Eduardo E. Bustamante ◽  
Kirk I. Erickson ◽  
...  

Objective: To investigate the effects of the BAILAMOSTM dance program on physical activity (PA), cardiorespiratory, and cognitive health. Methods: A parallel, two-armed pilot study was conducted with 57 older Latinos randomized to the BAILAMOSTM dance program ( n = 28) or health education (HE) ( n = 29). We conducted two- and three-way repeated-measures ANOVAs. Results: BAILAMOSTM participants increased participation in leisure moderate-to-vigorous PA (LMVPA) ( F[1,53] = 3.17, p = .048, η2 G = .01) and performance in global cognition relative to HE participants ( F[1,52] = 4.19, p = .045, η2 G = .01). Attendance moderated increases in moderate PA, MVPA, LMVPA, and total PA ( p < .05). Participants of both groups with ≥75% attendance increased participation in PA. Among participants with <75% attendance, BAILAMOSTM participants increased PA relative to HE. Discussion: BAILAMOSTM positively impacted self-reported PA and global cognition in older Latinos. Even smaller doses of dance appear to impact self-reported PA levels.


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