A MINIREVIEW ABOUT SPORTING PRACTICE IN EPILEPTIC CHILDREN

VINCENZO MONDA^1,§, MARIA RUBERTO^2,§, INES VILLANO^1§, ANNA VALENZANO^3§, ANNACLAUDIA RICCIARDI⁴, BEATRICE GALLAI⁵, ROSA MAROTTA⁶, FRANCESCO LAVANO⁶, SERENA MARIANNA LAVANO⁶, AGATA MALTESE⁷, GABRIELE TRIPI^8,9, PALMIRA ROMANO⁴, MARGHERITA SALERNO¹⁰

¹Department of Experimental Medicine, Section of Human Physiology and Unit of Dietetic and Sport Medicine, Università degli Studi della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Italy - ²Department of Medical-Surgical and Dental Specialties, Università degli Studi della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Italy - ³Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine University of Foggia, Foggia, Italy - ⁴Clinic of Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry; Department of Mental Health and Physical and Preventive Medicine, Università degli Studi della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Italy - ⁵Department of Surgical and Biomedical Sciences, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy - ⁶Department of Medical and Surgery Sciences, University “Magna Graecia”, Catanzaro, Italy - ⁷Department of Psychological, Pedagogical and Educational Sciences, University of Palermo, Italy - ⁸Department PROSAMI, University of Palermo, Italy - ⁹Childhood Psychiatric Service for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, CH Chinon, France - ¹⁰Sciences for Mother and Child Health Promotion, University of Palermo, Italy

Movement is important for neuropsycho-physical development, ensuring the correct growth and giving many benefits from childhood to adulthood. Motor activity plays a pivotal role in psychological, educational and social terms: sport practice induces harmonious physical development with common important benefits independently from sport type and each sport imposes rules respect that children learns to know and respect step by step improving the social skills and cognitive abilities. Sport has a very important role in the growth of children and adolescents. Sport and physical activity work as a moral laboratory to practice decision- making and problem-solving skills, as well as teamwork and cooperation. In many pathological conditions, the sport practice is strongly discouraged, as in epileptic patients for the negative consequences on their physical condition and psychic. In general, seve- ral studies reported that physical activity has positive influence on seizure frequency and severity. As a result, attitudes regarding sports and epilepsy have changed considerably in the last decades and presently, the risk of convulsive seizures during sports practi- ce is minimal in case of well-managed epilepsy. Evaluating the control of convulsive disease is therefore a key point to allow sports in the children and adolescents.