How Much Movement Does My Child Need?

This is a question that we rarely get asked when we evaluate a child for physical therapy, but it is one that we try to tackle in every PT session we do. Every child comes with a support system around them and every support system has specific activities and routines. In day to day life that involves taking a child to school or daycare, working and running errands, and then a bed time routine of varying lengths, it can be difficult to dedicate more time to meet recommended movement guidelines.

Guidelines vary depending on a child’s age but generally follow the same outline. In the most recent edition of Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans that came out in 2018, amounts of time and intensity levels of activities were laid out for kids. The first step to best understanding the guidelines is to understand what the intensity levels mean. The guidelines describe light, moderate, and vigorous intensity activity. Light activities include household chores or slow leisurely walking. Moderate activities include anything where you are moving more actively, like with a brisk walk, raking the yard, or less intense sports like doubles tennis. Vigorous activities encompass activities like jogging, carrying heavy groceries up stairs, shoveling snow, or a strenuous exercise class.

Regardless of the intensity, one of the first things we like to work on with our patients is reducing the amount of time a child is sedentary. Discussions around why a sedentary activity might be a preferred way to spend time is often a great place to start. Depending on the child and family circumstance, we focus on group or community activities, as these are far less likely to be sedentary and often lead to spontaneous activity. Another great start is to find creative ways to intertwine more sedentary activity into movement, even if at mild intensity levels. The engagement and buy-in from children in these activities are often what decreases stress or anxiety and builds movement routines into a child’s life.

We also encourage families to think about small modifications that can be made to routines they already have established. Maybe a new addition to a school pick-up routine is a walk while you chat about their day. Maybe the weekly trip to the grocery store includes a stop at a playground beforehand. Follow your child’s preferences and routines and combine them with activities that are important to you, too. Start one day at a time and include as much flexibility and explanation to your child as you can. This ensures that they can have some say in what movement is most impactful for them.

Once broken down like this, the outlines for kids activity levels become a little less daunting. Guidelines for 3-5 year olds includes a target of 3 hours per day of a combination

of light, moderate, or vigorous activity. School aged kids (ages 6-17) should try to get 60 minutes a day of moderate or vigorous activity levels. Just like adults, it is important for them to have variety with this type of activity including aerobic and muscle strengthening activities. Check out Chapter Three (pages 47-54) of the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans for a deeper dive into different ways to address each intensity level, the different types of activity, and real-life examples.

As a final note, children and adolescents with disabilities are less likely to be meeting these movement guidelines. If you do not feel like your child is meeting these guidelines and you are unsure of how to create a plan to get there, contact us to see if physical therapy would be right for your child. The BAC physical therapists would love to help add meaningful movement into your child’s life!