SELF-training in the treatment of teenagers' obesity.

Objective. - Estimation of both physical and psychological effects of an ad apted physical training on children undergoing an obesity treatment. Material and methods. - The survey was carried out on 36 obese boys (ages = 12-16 years) who stayed in the medical center for at least four months. Ei ghteen of them were trained with the SELF method (the SELF-training is glob al, progressive, adapted to each boy, controlled and fakes place within a t en-week period with five sessions a fortnigrht, each session lasting 30 to 40 minutes). The parameters that were studied concerned auxology, breathing function exploration, aerobic and anaerobic capacities, muscle strength an d psychomotor qualities; the subjective effects of the training were estima ted with a questionnaire about life quality, and the hand test. At inclusio n the results were reported to a standard kind of population. At the end of the training the results of the 18 boys that were trained were compared to those of the 18 controls. Results. - Compared to a standard population, the obese childrens' aerobic capacity is diminished for the maximum power but is identical in absolute v alue for the VO2 max; their anaerobic capacities, muscle strength and psych omotor capacities are lower and their psyche is affected by the disease. Af ter a three-month training period and after comparison with the 'control' g roup, there can be noticed a significant improvement in the psychomotor cap acities a major tendancy for the improvement of the aerobic capacities and very positive effects on the psyche. Conclusion. - SELF-training in association with dietetics appears to be ver y useful in the therapeutic care of obese children. For the follow-up at ho me if would need to be registered within the domain of physiotherapy. (C) 2 000 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.