Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 31, 2025
Calculating Heart Rate Variability from ECG Data from Youth with Cerebral Palsy During Active Video Game Sessions
Published on: June 5, 2019
Guidelines for physical activity in children with heart disease
Sejal Suresh Shah1, Sweta Mohanty2, Tanuja Karande3
1Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Hands on Heart, RxDx Healthcare, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
Insights
This study provides guidelines for physical activity in children with heart disease, addressing both operated and unoperated cases. The recommendations aim to ensure safety while encouraging an active lifestyle for improved well-being.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Cardiology
- Sports Medicine
- Child Health
Background:
- Increasing recognition of children with heart disease necessitates tailored physical activity guidelines.
- Existing international guidelines often focus on competitive sports for operated children, limiting applicability to a broader population with diverse needs.
- Challenges exist for parents and medical professionals in determining safe physical activities due to hemodynamic considerations in pediatric heart disease.
Purpose of the Study:
- To formulate comprehensive recommendations for physical activity in children with heart diseases, catering to both operated and unoperated cases.
- To provide general guidelines that promote an active lifestyle while ensuring safety for children with various cardiac conditions.
- To address the need for individualized plans, serial assessments, and comprehensive checkups in specific situations.
Main Methods:
- A committee of experts from the Pediatric Cardiac Society of India developed the recommendations.
- Deliberations involved defining different types of physical activities (leisure, competitive) and classifying exercises by muscle action (dynamic, static) and intensity (low, medium, high).
- Recommendations were formulated based on available rationale for individual heart lesions.
Main Results:
- The guidelines offer a framework for planning physical activity for children with heart disease.
- Classification of activities and exercises provides a structured approach to recommendations.
- Emphasis is placed on individualizing plans and conducting serial assessments.
Conclusions:
- The recommendations aim to provide clarity and a safety net for physical activity in children with heart disease.
- Encouraging a physically active life is crucial for the overall well-being of these children.
- The guidelines support informed decision-making for parents and healthcare providers.
Justification:
In recent years, there has been increasing recognition of children with heart disease in our country. These children belong to different age groups and have untreated, partially treated, or completely treated heart disease. The role of physical activity for optimal physical, emotional, and psychosocial well-being for children is well understood. There is a challenge for the parents and the medical professionals to take a decision regarding the type of physical activity safe for the child as heart disease may affect the hemodynamic demands. Most of the existing international guidelines focus on competitive sports in operated heart disease children. This may be of limited use when we have a mixed population of children with heart disease, different types of sports in our country and where a larger subset is looking for recommendations to leisure time activities.
Process:
The Pediatric Cardiac Society of India decided to formulate recommendations for physical activity in children with heart diseases. A committee of experts, who were well-versed with the subject of physical activity in children with heart disease, volunteered to take up the task of writing the guidelines. The recommendations emerged following deliberations of the committee members, on the virtual platform as well as mails. The final version of manuscript was approved by all committee members and all members are co-authors of this manuscript. The different types of physical activities were defined including leisure sports and competitive sports. The exercise was classified based on the mechanical action of muscles involved into dynamic and static components. Each type of exercise was then classified based on the intensity into low, medium, and high. Recommendations for the type of physical activity for individual heart lesions were decided based on the rationale available.
Objectives:
The recommendations here are made with an intention to provide general guidelines for physical activity in children with operated and unoperated heart diseases, not excluding a need for individualizing a plan, serial assessment, and comprehensive checkup in special situations.
Recommendations:
We hope the recommendations mentioned below would provide basic clarity in planning physical activity in children with heart disease. This is with the hope to encourage physically active life, at the same time ensuring a safety net.
Related Concept Videos
01:17Exercise and Cardiac Output
Sustained exercise increases the muscles' oxygen demand, which can be...
01:20Exercise and Cardiovascular Response
Light to moderate physical activity initiates a series of interconnected responses in the body. The heart rate modestly increases in anticipation of the workout, followed by widespread vasodilation as oxygen consumption by skeletal muscles increases. This results in decreased peripheral resistance, increased capillary blood flow, and accelerated...
01:30Heart Failure VII: Nursing Interventions
01:29Cardiomyopathy VI: Nursing Management
01:20Rheumatic Heart Disease IV: Nursing Management
01:10Pre-Procedural Guidelines for Assessing Blood Pressure