Physical Activity and Participation in Regular Exercise by People with Physical Disability: What do they Stand to Gain?

Abstract

The practice of using health promotion activities such as exercise and sports to prevent development of certain health conditions and thus promote healthy living is not new to health sciences. Several researchers and clinicians have reported beneficial effects to this practice in the general population. However, individuals with physical disability, including those with mobility disability, are not usually considered to be possible candidates for health promoting physical exercise. This is probably due to many reasons including the belief that only people who are healthy or non-disabled need to be healthy, competing health needs of the physically challenged as well as socio-economic considerations, especially in a poor income countries, like Nigeria.

In this article, the need for health promoting physical exercise to prevent development of secondary health conditions, the type of exercise and the known beneficial effects of physical exercise among people with physical disabilities are discussed. Recommendations made include making physical exercise part of the total rehabilitation plans for people with physical disabilities. This is considering that participation in physical exercise for health promotion purposes would help reduce the risks of secondary health conditions in this group of people