Fact Sheet Created by the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine
Overview
Physical fitness is a general state of health that results in your ability to carry out daily tasks without getting too tired. The areas of physical fitness that this fact sheet addresses are:
- Muscle Fitness, which includes both strength and endurance, is the ability of your muscles to exert a force, such as lifting a heavy object, and sustaining an activity.
- Cardiorespiratory Fitness, which is the ability of your heart and lungs to take in oxygen and deliver it to all the parts of your body, allowing you to participate in physical activity over a long period of time.
- Flexibility or Joint Range of Motion (ROM), which is the available motion at any single joint, or group of joints, and is an integral part of efficient movement and injury prevention.
Everyone needs physical fitness – including people with a physical disability such as cerebral palsy. Both muscular and cardiorespiratory fitness, as well as full joint ROM can be achieved through regular exercise.
Why Exercise?
Increasing levels of muscular fitness, cardiorespiratory fitness and joint ROM have been associated with
- Improved functional capacity and mobility
- Reduced risk of depression and improved quality of life
- Maintaining healthy weight
- Reduced risk of osteoporosis (weak bones that increase the risk of a fracture)
- Lower incidence of type 2 diabetes
- Reduced risk for falls and related injury
- Reduced back pain
- Lower risk of hypertension, cardiovascular disease, stroke, and heart attack
WHAT IS RECOMMENDED?
The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that adults do at least 150 minutes per week of moderate intensity cardiorespiratory exercise (an activity where your heart works much harder than normal) AND muscle strengthening at least 2 days per week. There is no evidence to suggest that these requirements should be any different for people with cerebral palsy.
Many people with cerebral palsy are very physically inactive and these recommendations may be quite difficult to achieve. Some
exercises may be not possible, depending on the severity of cerebral palsy. The good news is, many health benefits may be achieved by doing less than the recommendations. Being fit and exercising should not be considered all-or nothing.
Start small, become familiar with both aerobic and resistance exercise, and gradually progress exercise time, frequency and intensity.
It is better to stick with a program than to do nothing, simply because you cannot reach the recommended levels.
WHAT IS RECOMMENDED?
The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that adults do at least 150 minutes per week of moderate intensity cardiorespiratory exercise (an activity where your heart works much harder than normal) AND muscle strengthening at least 2 days per week. There is no evidence to suggest that these requirements should be any different for people with cerebral palsy.
Many people with cerebral palsy are very physically inactive and these recommendations may be quite difficult to achieve. Some
exercises may be not possible, depending on the severity of cerebral palsy. The good news is, many health benefits may be achieved by doing less than the recommendations. Being fit and exercising should not be considered all-or nothing.
Start small, become familiar with both aerobic and resistance exercise, and gradually progress exercise time, frequency and intensity.
It is better to stick with a program than to do nothing, simply because you cannot reach the recommended levels.