Importance of exercise and motor fitness in 11–13 year old primary school children in liechtenstein

Abstract

Several studies have shown that the behavioral pattern in exercise and motor fitness of children has changed dramatically in the last two generations. Because childhood is a very important period of life, the promotion of physical activity (PA) has been identified as a major public health priority. Therefore the aim of this study was to observe the fitness level and the importance of PA among 5 th grade pupils in Liechtenstein. This cross-sectional study was carried out from March to June 2007. A total of 313 children (aged 11.8 ± 0.6 years) were randomly selected. PA and socio-demographic data were acquired with a short questionnaire, the motor fitness with a test battery, consisting of eight items. In summary, the physical performance of all the children is satisfactory, but with obvious deficits in coordination, flexibility and basic motor skills. Children's general fitness was significantly higher among those, who were members of sports clubs than non members (p < .05). A high level of PA in free time was associated with better motor fitness (p < .001). According to other studies, this survey illustrates the controversial findings of a high participation in sports of school children in their free time activities but at the same time increasing motor disorders. Physical activity (PA) is a crucial source of children's health. Various age-appropriate motor ex-periences support growth, promote motor abilities and improve psychosocial health (Hallal et al., 2006; Strong et al., 2005; Zimmer, 2009). Therefore the school age is a very important period of life, in which motor skills and healthy long-term lifestyle patterns can be established (Ahnert and Schneider, 2007; Janz, 2000; Tammelin, 2005). According to current state of research, this health potential seems to be used however less and less. In our consumer-oriented and media-impacted society, lifestyles and habits appear to have changed decisively. Children and adolescents of today frequently show an inactive lifestyle, unhealthy nutritional habits as well as media-dominated recreational activities (Graf et al., 2006; Must and Tybor, 2005; Hills et al., 2007). At the same time an increasing polarisation can be detected amongst adolescents whose daily routine is either physically active or inactive, or whose diet is healthy or unhealthy. As a result of this insufficient dose of daily exercise, not only postural disbalances among school children have increased but also the worldwide prevalence of overweight (Wang and Lobstein, 2006; Hills et al., 2007). Within Europe, the highest levels of childhood overweight (30–36%) can be found in Mediterranean countries (Jackson-Leach and Lobstein, 2006). In Liechtenstein, the current prevalence of overweight among school children (incl. obesity) is 17.1%, following the international IOTF-criteria (Kühnis and Walser, 2010). According to the international HBSC-study (Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children) more than half of the 11–15 year olds fail to meet the recommended guidelines of at least an hour of moderate to vigorous PA per day (Currie et al., 2008). Many children exhibit poorer motor skills (Bös, 2003; Olds et al., 2006). In an apparent contradiction to this, club and informal leisure sports among This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 2.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.