Not just child’s play – study provides benchmark for identifying those at risk
Back to Topic
Click to Print
Useful Websites
Glossary Term Selection
This article is 7 years old.
Click here to view the latest articles for this topic.
Boys perform better than girls in speed, limb strength and cardiorespiratory fitness, whilst girls have the edge in balance and flexibility, according to a landmark study of European children which hopes to provide useful data in the fight against childhood obesity and other health issues.
Over 10,000 children aged between six and 11 took part in the research, which is the first to provide sex and age-specific physical reference standards for the age group in Europe.
The exercises included a cardiorespiratory fitness test, a ‘flamingo’ balance test, a handgrip strength test, a standing long jump, a 40m sprint and a sit-and-reach test for flexibility.
The results, published in the International Journal of Obesity, found that girls had better balance and flexibility than boys, whilst boys performed better in speed and agility, muscular strength and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF). Overall, older children performed better than younger children, except for CRF in boys and flexibility in...
Want to see the rest of this article?
Would you like to see the rest of this article and all the other benefits that Issues Online can provide with?
- Useful related articles
- Video and multimedia references
- Statistical information and reference material
- Glossary of terms
- Key Facts and figures
- Related assignments
- Resource material and websites
