search
Divisions & Programs Medical Education Residency & Fellowships Research Faculty Contact
DIVISIONS
The Pediatric Exercise Research Center (PERC) is an exciting program at UCI housing a wide
variety of research iniatives aimed at elucidating the physiological effects of
execise in children.
For more information, please visit the official PERC website at
www.gcrc.uci.edu/perc/
While the idea that “exercise is good for children” seems axiomatic, translating this vague notion into specific,
scientifically based guidelines that actually influence health has proved to be difficult. Never before has the need for
research and clinical application in the field of exercise in children been so great. The major issues facing our country
are:
• The emerging epidemic of pediatric obesity.
• The increase in asthma in children and its relation to fitness and exercise.
• Increasing number of childhood survivors of premature birth, congenital heart disease, lung disease, burn
injury, and cancer. For these children, physical activity is beneficial, but we simply do not know what the type, duration,
and magnitude of exercise this should be.
• The role of physical activity in enhancing learning and psychosocial development in school.
• Finding the optimal training strategies for the young athlete that preserve biomechanical,
physiological, and psychological health of the child during the critical period of growth and development.
The UCI School of Medicine established the Pediatric Exercise Research Center in 2002 to address these issues.
Our mission and goals are:
To support innovative research into how exercise influences health, growth, and
development in children and to translate these discoveries to directly benefit healthy children and children with
chronic disease and disabilities. Thus, there are both research and clinical objectives.
Specifically, we will:
• Create an environment which supports interdisciplinary research and clinical efforts focused on exercise
and physical activity in the developing child.
• Develop a state-of-the-art testing facility for biomechanical, cardiorespiratory, and metabolic assessment
of exercise responses in children.
• Research the role of physical activity in growth, development, and maturation of the health child.
• Research the effect of chronic diseases and disabilities on physical activity and the consequences of the
lack of naturally occurring physical activity and exercise on growth and development.
• Develop innovative interventions that:
• In healthy children, identify patterns of physical activity that prevent disease
later in life.
• For the child-athlete, provide effective training regimens based on a modern understanding of safe and
healthy biomechanical, physiological, and psychosocial development of children and adolescents.
• Optimize rehabilitation in children following major injury, surgery, or chemotherapy.
•In the child with chronic disease (e.g. congenital heart disease, diabetes, asthma, or arthritis), optimize
patterns of physical acitivity that can enhance lifelong health outcomes.
News | Administration | Patient Privacy | Disclaimer | Contact Webmaster
