The Child Development and Exercise Center has a longstanding research tradition focussing on physical fitness and the effects of exercise training in children and adolescents with a chronic disease or condition. Research aims to achieve an optimal health and to increase the participation in the society.
Research of the department has two areas of attention. The first area of attention is the study and analyis of causal factors and predictors for the loss of exercise capacity and exercise tolerance. On the basis of the results of these studies, exercise programs are developed and analysed.
The second area of interest is more fundamental in nature and focusses on the interaction between the environment and the development of children and adolescents with a chronic disease or condition.
Populations of interest are children/adolescents with Osteogenesis Imperfecta, Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis, Dermatomyositis, Cerebral Paresis, Spina Bifida, chronic renal insufficiency with dialisis, Hemophilia, Cardiac disorders, Epilepsia, metabolic diseases, Leukemia and Achondroplasia.