Adaptive sports (also known as parasports) is a wide-ranging concept that encompasses all types of physical activity aimed at enabling participation in sports and exercise for individuals with disabilities or special needs. The goal is to find individualized solutions and adaptations so that everyone can experience the joy and benefits of movement, regardless of their starting point.
The main emphasis is on inclusion, well-being, and individual needs.
Key principles of adaptive exercise:
- Individuality: Exercise is always planned and implemented according to the individual’s needs, interests, abilities, and goals.
- Inclusion: Efforts are made to create environments and practices that allow for full participation together with others.
- Adaptation: Forms of exercise, rules, equipment, environment, and guidance methods are adapted to make participation possible and meaningful.
- Positive experience: The aim is for everyone to experience movement as a positive and motivating thing.
- Goal-orientedness: Exercise can have various goals, such as improving physical fitness, maintaining functional capacity, social interaction, building self-confidence, or simply the joy of movement.
Who is adaptive exercise for?
Adaptive exercise is intended for a very wide range of people with various disabilities or special needs, such as:
- Physical injuries and limitations: Mobility impairments, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injuries, amputations.
- Sensory impairments: Visual impairment, hearing impairment.
- Intellectual disabilities: Various developmental disabilities.
- Mental health issues: For example, depression, anxiety.
- Chronic diseases: For example, diabetes, heart disease, rheumatism.
- Aging: Physical changes and potential limitations due to age.
- Overweight and obesity: Challenges with movement.
- Other special needs: For example, learning disabilities.
In short, adaptive exercise is flexible, individualized, and inclusive physical activity that aims to remove barriers and enable the joy and benefits of movement for everyone. It is a human-centered activity that emphasizes individual needs and goals. Here in Raisio, as elsewhere, efforts are made to provide adaptive exercise opportunities for various target groups.
Our instructors are trained in Neurospectrum and adaptive martial arts and self defence.