Physical Activity and Exercise Recommendations for Children in Persian Medicine: A Narrative Review

Abstract

Context: Persian Medicine (PM) scientists such as Avicenna (980‑1037 AD) believed that maintaining health without exercise is impossible. So they have written about special rules and various techniques for the exercise of different groups of people including children. This study aimed to express the PM views about the exercise in children.  Evidence Acquisition: Among the most important references of PM in children’s subjects, six books from different centuries were selected. Relevant keywords were used to extract related data. Also, PubMed, Science Direct, and Google Scholar databases were searched up to July 2019 to find common views on physical activity and exercise in children. The extracted materials were thoroughly studied to summarize and categorize to find the main themes. Results: According to PM, exercise is a broad concept, including massage of the upper and lower limbs from the first hours of life, physical activity like crying for feeding and playing, passive movements such as cradle shaking and swinging, and proper and frequent experience of mental states and five senses such as winning/losing, enjoying, listening to music and looking at fine writings. The intensity of exercise varies in different children. Vigorous exercise in children changes the body composition, results in weakness, or impairs the growth and development. So, according to Avicenna, exercise must be planned individually.  Conclusions: It seems that the principles of PM can help design available, different, enjoyable, and user-friendly exercises for children of all ages.