Effect of Structured Exercise Program and Nutritional Counselling on Fitness in School Children

Purpose: Childhood and adolescence are important stages of life, as many physical, biological and psychological changes take place during this stage. There are many contributing factors which plays important role during this growing and developmental stages. During these stages, modifiable factors i...

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Main Authors: Kshitija Bansal, Divya Sanghi, Raju K. Parasher, Nitesh Bansal, Barkha Bhatnagar
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Negah Institute for Scientific Communication 2025-07-01
Series:Physical Treatments
Subjects:
Online Access:http://ptj.uswr.ac.ir/article-1-683-en.pdf
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author Kshitija Bansal
Divya Sanghi
Raju K. Parasher
Nitesh Bansal
Barkha Bhatnagar
author_facet Kshitija Bansal
Divya Sanghi
Raju K. Parasher
Nitesh Bansal
Barkha Bhatnagar
author_sort Kshitija Bansal
collection DOAJ
description Purpose: Childhood and adolescence are important stages of life, as many physical, biological and psychological changes take place during this stage. There are many contributing factors which plays important role during this growing and developmental stages. During these stages, modifiable factors including nutrition and physical fitness are crucial. In order to improve physical fitness, interventions should focus on physical activity, and improving the dietary intake of nutrients. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the impact of nutritional counselling and structured exercise regimen on fitness of elementary school children. Methods: The study included sixty school-age children, ranging between 6-14 years of age who scored poorly on three of the five tests related to the physical fitness. The exclusion criteria consisted of children with recent ligamentous or muscular injury in previous four weeks and were medically instructed not to engage in any of the physical activity. Children were randomly assigned to Group A-structured exercise program (SEP), Group B-nutritional Counselling program (NCP) and Group C-SEP+NCP. Pre-and post-intervention the children were assessed for their fitness parameters like muscle strength, curl up test, flexibility, agility, and cardiovascular endurance. Results: It was observed that fitness of children improved in all groups following four weeks of intervention P<0.05, however the greatest improvements were observed following structured exercises and nutritional counselling (SEP+NCP). Conclusion: There is a definite need to focus on healthy lifestyle in elementary school children which should include both structured exercise and nutritional counselling.
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issn 2423-5830
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publishDate 2025-07-01
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series Physical Treatments
spelling doaj-art-23b7daee852f4bfdb0174f2d2b6509e32025-08-20T03:51:25ZengNegah Institute for Scientific CommunicationPhysical Treatments2423-58302025-07-01153217224Effect of Structured Exercise Program and Nutritional Counselling on Fitness in School ChildrenKshitija Bansal0Divya Sanghi1Raju K. Parasher2Nitesh Bansal3Barkha Bhatnagar4 Department of Physiotherapy, School of Allied Health Sciences, Manav Rachna International Institute of Research and Studies, Faridabad, India. Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Allied Health Sciences, Manav Rachna International Institute of Research and Studies, Faridabad, India. Department of Physiotherapy, Venkateshwar Hospital, Dwarka, India. Department of Public Health, Jindal School of Public Health and Human Development, O.P Jindal Global University, Sonipat, India. Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Allied Health Sciences, S.G.T. University, Gurgaon, India. Purpose: Childhood and adolescence are important stages of life, as many physical, biological and psychological changes take place during this stage. There are many contributing factors which plays important role during this growing and developmental stages. During these stages, modifiable factors including nutrition and physical fitness are crucial. In order to improve physical fitness, interventions should focus on physical activity, and improving the dietary intake of nutrients. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the impact of nutritional counselling and structured exercise regimen on fitness of elementary school children. Methods: The study included sixty school-age children, ranging between 6-14 years of age who scored poorly on three of the five tests related to the physical fitness. The exclusion criteria consisted of children with recent ligamentous or muscular injury in previous four weeks and were medically instructed not to engage in any of the physical activity. Children were randomly assigned to Group A-structured exercise program (SEP), Group B-nutritional Counselling program (NCP) and Group C-SEP+NCP. Pre-and post-intervention the children were assessed for their fitness parameters like muscle strength, curl up test, flexibility, agility, and cardiovascular endurance. Results: It was observed that fitness of children improved in all groups following four weeks of intervention P<0.05, however the greatest improvements were observed following structured exercises and nutritional counselling (SEP+NCP). Conclusion: There is a definite need to focus on healthy lifestyle in elementary school children which should include both structured exercise and nutritional counselling.http://ptj.uswr.ac.ir/article-1-683-en.pdfnutritional counsellingstructured exercisephysical developmentchildhood fitness
spellingShingle Kshitija Bansal
Divya Sanghi
Raju K. Parasher
Nitesh Bansal
Barkha Bhatnagar
Effect of Structured Exercise Program and Nutritional Counselling on Fitness in School Children
Physical Treatments
nutritional counselling
structured exercise
physical development
childhood fitness
title Effect of Structured Exercise Program and Nutritional Counselling on Fitness in School Children
title_full Effect of Structured Exercise Program and Nutritional Counselling on Fitness in School Children
title_fullStr Effect of Structured Exercise Program and Nutritional Counselling on Fitness in School Children
title_full_unstemmed Effect of Structured Exercise Program and Nutritional Counselling on Fitness in School Children
title_short Effect of Structured Exercise Program and Nutritional Counselling on Fitness in School Children
title_sort effect of structured exercise program and nutritional counselling on fitness in school children
topic nutritional counselling
structured exercise
physical development
childhood fitness
url http://ptj.uswr.ac.ir/article-1-683-en.pdf
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