Exercise testing in children -- what works, what doesn't, and where to go?

Exercise testing is a valuable tool in the assessment of healthy children and those with a chronic disease. However, especially for testing small children modified equipment is required. The choice of the exercise protocol and the outcome variables depends mainly on the reason for conducting the test. Future developments in pediatric exercise testing will focus on testing protocols designed to accommodate the specific biology and behavior of children. A further focus will be on the development of norms based on appropriate scaling techniques.