Abstract
[Extract] Approximately 25 per cent of Australian children are overweight or obese (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare [AIHW] 2018) and 80 per cent of Australian children and adolescents do not meet physical activity recommendations of at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity daily (AIHW 2017).
Physiotherapists have knowledge and skills to contribute to the therapeutic assessment and management of children who are overweight or obese, however, they need to upskill on definitions of overweight and obesity in children and to correctly assess children’s’ weight status using BMI percentile charts (Milne
et al 2015). Weight status cannot be accurately judged by looking at a child (Robinson 2017), so assessments of growth (height, weight and BMI) should form part of a standard paediatric physiotherapy assessment (Tsiros 2017).
Physiotherapists have knowledge and skills to contribute to the therapeutic assessment and management of children who are overweight or obese, however, they need to upskill on definitions of overweight and obesity in children and to correctly assess children’s’ weight status using BMI percentile charts (Milne
et al 2015). Weight status cannot be accurately judged by looking at a child (Robinson 2017), so assessments of growth (height, weight and BMI) should form part of a standard paediatric physiotherapy assessment (Tsiros 2017).
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 48 |
| Number of pages | 1 |
| Journal | InMotion |
| Publication status | Published - Aug 2018 |
