ABSTRACT
Children with asthma can find it difficult to adhere to the recommended guidelines of physical activity needed to maintain a good health. They frequently have a lower exercise tolerance due to asthma symptoms during exercise, exercise-induced asthma attacks, and poor fitness due to the avoidance of school and recreational physical activities. Abstinence may relate to the fear of symptoms or conspicuous underperformance in group activities and misconceptions about the relationships between exercise and asthma. Over time, non-participation may compromise social and physical development and undermine self-esteem. Evidence indicates that aerobic exercise can improve or even normalise aerobic capacity in asthmatic children and adolescents, while a major benefit of regular exercise is the improvement in their quality of life and asthma control. Physiologically, exercise training for asthmatic children may reduce bronchial hyper-responsiveness, although evidence of improvement in resting spirometric measures of pulmonary function and airway obstruction are inconsistent.
