IDEAS FOR MAKING EXERCISES FUN
Exercises can quickly become boring, and the
child will not want to do them. So turn
them into games whenever possible.
LOOK FOR WAYS
TO MAKE IT FUN!
EXERCISES 377
a good ROM
exercise for
fingers
One good way is to involve the children in games with other children. Try to think of
ways to adapt games so that they help to stretch the joints and exercise the muscles
that most need it.
A boy with cerebral palsy
rolls a ball so that a girl with
juvenile arthritis can kick
it. This helps her
to straighten her
knees, and to
strengthen the
muscles that
straighten them.
In the picture below, children play ball to help María, a girl with juvenile arthritis, stretch
her stiff joints and muscles.
Can you see how the 2
children on the left are helping
Maria with ‘range-of-motion’
exercises?
Which of Maria’s joints are
they exercising?
Answers:
The children form a triangle,
so that to catch the ball Maria
has to twist her body to one
side, and to throw it she has
to twist to the other side. This
helps loosen her stiff back and
neck. Also, sometimes they
throw the ball high so that she
has to lift her head and raise
her arms high to catch it.
This way María exercises her neck, back, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hands, and
fingers. And the play helps her forget the pain of movement—pain that often makes
range-of-motion exercises seem like punishment. But this way she has fun.
disabled village children