Exercise and Children's Health: A Little Counseling Can Pay Lasting Dividends.
Regular exercise is an important health maintenance strategy for children and adolescents: It facilitates weight control, helps strengthen bones, and can improve cardiovascular risk factors. Mental health may also benefit. An active childhood may also lay the groundwork for a lifetime of fitness. Physicians are in an important position to assess children's weight status and activity levels during a routine physical exam. And, with some simple recommendations to children and parents, they can play a key role in helping young patients find and maintain activities they enjoy, while keeping the risk of injury to a minimum.
Ganley
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Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
Sherman
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