{"id":94352,"date":"2024-07-09T15:55:14","date_gmt":"2024-07-09T19:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=94352"},"modified":"2024-07-09T16:25:00","modified_gmt":"2024-07-09T20:25:00","slug":"distinguished-professor-one-of-canadas-few-pediatric-exercise-physiologists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2024\/07\/distinguished-professor-one-of-canadas-few-pediatric-exercise-physiologists\/","title":{"rendered":"Distinguished Prof one of Canada\u2019s few pediatric exercise physiologists"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brock University\u2019s Distinguished Professor designation is a lifetime appointment recognizing outstanding achievement in each recipient\u2019s academic discipline. This series of articles highlights this year\u2019s recipients. Read more about the award and its recipients\u00a0on The Brock News<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Ever notice how little children sweat? Or no matter how much they exercise, their muscles don\u2019t grow as much as adults do?<\/p>\n

As one of the few pediatric exercise physiologists in Canada, Bareket Falk has spent nearly four decades studying children\u2019s physiological responses to exercise, leading to significant and impactful research outcomes. Her research lab is the only one in Canada that focuses on neuromuscular function in children.<\/p>\n

The Brock University Kinesiology Professor was among 10 faculty members awarded the new honorary title of Distinguished Professor<\/a> by the Office of the President.<\/p>\n

Falk\u2019s career started by examining the thermoregulatory response to exercise in children and adults, and how it changes as children grow.<\/p>\n

Children don\u2019t thermoregulate their body temperature like adults do, she says, with the most prominent difference being that children sweat significantly less than adults.<\/p>\n

When the human body experiences heat, sweat is released, creating a film of water on the skin that evaporates and cools the body.<\/p>\n

Evaporation is the most efficient way to dissipate heat, she says, so many people thought children\u2019s thermoregulation was deficient because they sweat less.<\/p>\n

\u201cTurns out they\u2019re not. They just thermoregulate differently,\u201d says Falk. \u201cChildren are good at dry heat loss \u2014 mainly cooling the body through increasing blood flow to skin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another area of Falk\u2019s research examines how exercise affects bone.<\/p>\n

Bone-related issues, such as osteoporosis, are often associated with older adults, especially women; however, it\u2019s known now that osteoporosis is a pediatric condition manifested in old age.<\/p>\n

Unlike adults, whose bones deteriorate as they age, children\u2019s bones grow in length, thickness and density as they develop, and there are various ways to make them stronger, says Falk.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne way is nutrition, but exercise is also important, and some would say even more important to increasing bone strength,\u201d she says. \u201cExercise and nutrition can slow down bone deterioration in adults, but the only time we can make our bones stronger is during the growing years, particularly around the pubertal period.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most recently, Falk\u2019s research has focused on examining how muscles respond to exercise and training, particularly resistance training in children.<\/p>\n

A common misunderstanding is that resistance training might stunt growth, she says. If done properly, however, it can be beneficial for children\u2019s growth and development.<\/p>\n

The effects of training are different for adults and children, though.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though both children and adults can increase their strength with resistance training, children experience little or no hypertrophy, which is increased muscle mass,\u201d she says. \u201cSo, if not hypertrophy, there must be neurological changes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the past few years, advanced techniques have allowed researchers like Falk to more closely examine how the nervous system makes children\u2019s muscles work. Many techniques are noninvasive and can precisely identify and monitor individual motor units within muscles.<\/p>\n

\u201cChildren don\u2019t activate their muscles in the same way adults do, which partly explains why they are not as strong,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Falk is interested in answering why there\u2019s this difference. She says it could be that children don\u2019t activate the same amount or proportion of muscle or that the frequency at which they activate their muscle fibres is lower.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have the answers yet, but this is the path we\u2019re on,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Falk\u2019s long-term goal is to establish a comprehensive understanding of the development of muscle control mechanisms, which has important implications for performance and is instrumental in developing age-specific interventions to improve performance in physical rehabilitation and in treating neuromuscular diseases.<\/p>\n

As former Chair for Brock\u2019s Centre for Bone and Muscle Health, Falk is passionate about knowledge translation and teaching others about her and other researchers\u2019 work.<\/p>\n

She finds great joy in teaching students at all levels and mentoring graduate students. Eight of her past graduate students hold faculty positions in Canada or internationally and she maintains ongoing collaboration with many of them.<\/p>\n

Falk is included in Stanford University\u2019s list of the world\u2019s top two per cent of scientists with the most citations. She served as the Editor-in-Chief of Pediatric Exercise Science <\/em>journal for nine years, has nearly 300 publications in both scientific and lay literature, and has delivered more than 50 invited scientific lectures worldwide.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m proud I\u2019ve been able to make an impact within the field of pediatric physiology and to make this field important,\u201d says the proud mother of three boys.<\/p>\n

While the Distinguished Professor designation is an individual honour, Falks says her research accomplishments could not have been possible without the support of her colleagues and students.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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