en فیزیوتراپی Physical Therapy مرور سیستماتیک/ آنالیز متا Systematic Review <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:Tahoma;"><span style="line-height:2;"><span style="unicode-bidi:embed"><b>Background: </b>Children with autism spectrum disorder often exhibit difficulties in emotion regulation, elevated anxiety levels, and deficits in social functioning. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to critically evaluate the evidence on the effectiveness of exercise interventions in improving emotion regulation, reducing anxiety, and enhancing social skills among children with autism spectrum disorder.</span><br> <span style="unicode-bidi:embed"><b>Methods</b>: This review followed the PRISMA 2020 guidelines. Four databases PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar were systematically searched for randomized controlled, quasi-experimental, and non-randomized studies published from January 2015 to February 2026. Eligible studies included children with a formal autism spectrum disorder diagnosis who participated in structured exercise programs targeting at least one of the three outcomes. Methodological quality was assessed using the McMaster and PEDro scales.<span style="font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif"></span></span><br> <span style="unicode-bidi:embed"><b>Findings: </b>A total of 16 studies involving 569 children with ASD (mean age 8.05 years; 81% boys) were included. For&nbsp;social skills, meta-analysis of 13 studies showed a small, non-significant overall effect (SMD = 0.16, p = 0.62), with considerable heterogeneity (I&sup2; = 87%). Most individual studies (14 of 16) reported positive improvements in this domain. Regarding&nbsp;emotional regulation, a significant baseline deficit was identified in children with ASD compared to TD peers (pooled SMD = &minus;0.64, p = 0.008). Following exercise interventions, enhancements in emotion regulation were reported in four studies. Only one study measured anxiety outcomes, precluding a pooled analysis; however, it found a reduction in anxiety symptoms post-intervention.</span><br> <span style="unicode-bidi:embed"><b>Conclusion</b>: Collectively, the evidence indicates that structured exercise interventions may benefit children with ASD, though the strength and consistency of effects vary across outcomes. Meta-analysis showed a small, non-significant pooled effect on social skills, with high heterogeneity suggesting that intervention success may depend on program characteristics and measurement approaches.</span></span></span></span></p> Autism, Physical Activity, Emotion Regulation, Anxiety, Social Skills 0 0 http://ptj.uswr.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-776-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Mahrokh Dehghani mahrokh.dehghani@yahoo.com 0000-0003-4190-9061 Yes Department of Sports Biomechanics, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran Farhad Rezazadeh rezazadeh.farhad@uma.ac.ir 0009-0003-4190-935x No Department of Sports Biomechanics, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran. Mojtaba Qasemi mojtabaqasemifit@yahoo.com 0009-0008-8940-8884 No Department of Sports Biomechanics, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran. Hosein Safajou safajouhosein@gmail.com 0009-0002-6409-8193 No Department of Sports Biomechanics, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran. Ebrahim Piri ebrahimm.piri@gmail.com 0000-0001-9188-9746 No Department of Sports Biomechanics, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran.