Effects of a Long-Term Adapted Judo Program on the Health-Related Physical Fitness of Children with ASD

Emanuela Pierantozzi; José Morales; David H Fukuda; Vanessa Garcia; Antonia M Gómez; Myriam Guerra-Balic; Eduardo Carballeira

doi:10.3390/ijerph192416731

Effects of a Long-Term Adapted Judo Program on the Health-Related Physical Fitness of Children with ASD

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Dec 13;19(24):16731. doi: 10.3390/ijerph192416731.

Authors

Emanuela Pierantozzi¹, José Morales², David H Fukuda³, Vanessa Garcia², Antonia M Gómez², Myriam Guerra-Balic², Eduardo Carballeira⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neuroscience, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, Genetics, Maternal and Child Health, University of Genoa, 1700 Genoa, Italy.
² Faculty of Psychology, Education Sciences and Sport Blanquerna-Ramon Llull University, 08022 Barcelona, Spain.
³ School of Kinesiology & Physical Therapy, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816, USA.
⁴ Department of Physical Education and Sport, University of A Coruna, 15179 Oleiros, Spain.

Abstract

Physical fitness is one of the most important physical and mental health aspects for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This study aimed to test the effects of a long-term adapted judo program on the health-related physical fitness of children with ASD. The participants were recruited from various associations of families and schools for children with special needs. Twenty-one children were assigned to an experimental group and nineteen to a control group. The experimental group participated in a six-month adapted judo program consisting of 90 min of practice each week. Health-related physical fitness was measured using the indicators obtained from the ALPHA-fitness battery, the estimated VO₂max and the waist/height ratio^0.5. Changes within and between groups were analyzed using linear mixed models for repeated measures designs and test-retest reliability of tests requiring a maximum score using the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC). A judo program tailored for children with ASD can improve the cardio-metabolic health and cardiorespiratory fitness of its participants. The problems involved with administering physical aptitude tests that involve maximum effort or performance in children with ASD cast serious doubts on the reproducibility of their results.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04523805.

Keywords: adapted sports; autism; combat sports; intellectual disabilities; non-exercise equation; waist circumference.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Autism Spectrum Disorder*
Child
Exercise
Humans
Martial Arts*
Physical Fitness
Reproducibility of Results

Associated data

ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT04523805
figshare/10.6084/m9.figshare.20465337

Grants and funding

This study has been partially funded by a Ramon Llull University grant (ref. CER-URL-2019) and Erasmus + Sport Programme (Project Identifier: 612954-EPP-1-2019-1-ES-SPO-SCP).