Lack Of Physical Fitness Research Articles

Some long-term effects of scoliosis diagnosed at school age

Results There was no progression of the curvature after the treatment. Spirometric results among scoliotic subjects were slightly lower than in the controls, although it did not show the characteristics of the restrictive type of respiratory disorder, which was found in 5.1% of patients. PWC170 test results were significantly lower (by about 20%) than in controls, and 84.6% subjects reported periodical, occasional of frequent, mostly lumbar pain associated with the work performed. In 12.8% cases pain impeded breathing. In about half of the group pain occurred especially after physical effort and caused limitation of activity, while in other subjects did not affect daily activities. Conclusions 1) subjects with low degree scoliosis generally do not indicate impairment of lung ventilation with the characteristics of restrictive disorders; 2) adults with settled low degree scoliosis characterized by lack of physical fitness, in the form of reductions in PWC170; 3) the presence of school-age low degree scoliosis predisposes to the occurrence of pain symptoms in adulthood.

Young healthy individuals develop lack of energy when adopting an obesity provoking behaviour for 4 weeks: a phenomenological analysis

During the past 20 years, a sedentary lifestyle has become more common and simultaneously the consumption of energy-dense food has increased. These are two major risk factors associated with the increase of overweight and obesity, which is found in all ages over the world. The low well-being reported by obese individuals could be associated with increased food intake or it might be a specific consequence of obesity and lack of physical fitness. The aim of this study was to describe the experience of the phenomenon, adopting an obesity provoking behaviour, by increasing energy intake and simultaneously having a sedentary lifestyle for 4 weeks in healthy, normal-weight individuals of both genders. Eighteen healthy individuals (12 men and 6 women; median age 23, range 21-44 years) were included in an intervention, with a doubled energy intake and a maximum physical activity of 5000 steps per day during 4 weeks. After completing this intervention the participants were interviewed and asked to describe their experience during the past 4 weeks. A phenomenological approach was used to gain understanding of the phenomenon and analyses of the transcripts were performed in four steps according to Giorgis' method. The main essence of the phenomenon, adopting an obesity provoking behaviour, was found to be lack of energy, related to emotional life, relations and life habits. Lack of energy emerged from five structures: influenced self-confidence, commitment to oneself and others, managing eating, feelings of tiredness and physical impact. These five structures were manifested through 12 constituents. These lifestyle changes decreased the sense of well-being in nonobese healthy individuals of both genders.

A fitness screening model for increasing fitness assessment and research experiences in undergraduate exercise science students

When students analyze and present original data they have collected, and hence have a cultivated sense of curiosity about the data, student learning is enhanced. It is often difficult to provide students an opportunity to practice their skills, use their knowledge, and gain research experiences during a typical course laboratory. This article describes a model of an out-of-classroom experience during which undergraduate exercise science students provide a free health and fitness screening to the campus community. Although some evidence of the effectiveness of this experience is presented, this is not a detailed evaluation of either the service or learning benefits of the fitness screening. Working in small learning groups in the classroom, students develop hypotheses about the health and fitness of the population to be screened. Then, as part of the health and fitness screening, participants are evaluated for muscular strength, aerobic fitness, body composition, blood pressure, physical activity, and blood cholesterol levels. Students then analyze the data collected during the screening, accept or reject their hypotheses based on statistical analyses of the data, and make in-class presentations of their findings. This learning experience has been used successfully to illustrate the levels of obesity, hypercholesterolemia, and lack of physical fitness in the campus community as well as provide an opportunity for students to use statistical procedures to analyze data. It has also provided students with an opportunity to practice fitness assessment and interpersonal skills that will enhance their future careers.

MOPET: A context-aware and user-adaptive wearable system for fitness training

Cardiovascular disease, obesity, and lack of physical fitness are increasingly common and negatively affect people's health, requiring medical assistance and decreasing people's wellness and productivity. In the last years, researchers as well as companies have been increasingly investigating wearable devices for fitness applications with the aim of improving user's health, in terms of cardiovascular benefits, loss of weight or muscle strength. Dedicated GPS devices, accelerometers, step counters and heart rate monitors are already commercially available, but they are usually very limited in terms of user interaction and artificial intelligence capabilities. This significantly limits the training and motivation support provided by current systems, making them poorly suited for untrained people who are more interested in fitness for health rather than competitive purposes. To better train and motivate users, we propose the mobile personal trainer (MOPET) system. MOPET is a wearable system that supervises a physical fitness activity based on alternating jogging and fitness exercises in outdoor environments. By exploiting real-time data coming from sensors, knowledge elicited from a sport physiologist and a professional trainer, and a user model that is built and periodically updated through a guided autotest, MOPET can provide motivation as well as safety and health advice, adapted to the user and the context. To better interact with the user, MOPET also displays a 3D embodied agent that speaks, suggests stretching or strengthening exercises according to user's current condition, and demonstrates how to correctly perform exercises with interactive 3D animations. By describing MOPET, we show how context-aware and user-adaptive techniques can be applied to the fitness domain. In particular, we describe how such techniques can be exploited to train, motivate, and supervise users in a wearable personal training system for outdoor fitness activity.

What’s new in the other journals?

What’s new in the other journals?

Does Delayed Correction Interfere With Pulmonary Functions and Exercise Tolerance in Patients With Tetralogy of Fallot?

To assess exercise tolerance and determine the distinct role of cardiac, respiratory, or peripheral factors on it after delayed surgical repair in patients with tetralogy of Fallot. The aerobic exercise capacity of 15 adult patients (mean [+/- SD] age, 21 +/- 6; age range, 9 to 30 years) undergoing successful total correction at a mean age of 12 +/- 5 years (patients) was compared to healthy, matched control subjects by using right ventricle echocardiography, resting spirometry, and cardiopulmonary exercise tests at a mean postoperative time of 7.5 +/- 4.6 years. Tertiary care referral centers. Fifteen adult patients (mean age, 21 +/- 6 years; age range, 9 to 30 years) undergoing successful total correction at a mean age of 12 +/- 5 (patients) and 15 healthy, matched volunteers (control subjects). There was evidence for a slight right ventricular diastolic dysfunction in the patients. Mean FVC (88 +/- 9% vs 109 +/- 12% predicted, respectively) and FEV1 (89 +/- 9% vs 109 +/- 12% predicted, respectively), although being within the normal range, were also decreased in comparison to those of control subjects (p < 0.0001). Maximal oxygen consumption (V(O2max) decreased in both groups (55 +/- 16% vs 61 +/- 23% predicted, respectively; p = 0.5); however, there were more individuals with severely decreased values among the patients (p = 0.05). V(O2) at the anaerobic threshold was also decreased in patients (33 +/- 15% vs 51 +/- 8% predicted, respectively; p = 0.004). The maximum tolerable exercise time was 17.3 +/- 4.5 min in patients vs 21.2 +/- 6.4 min in control subjects (p = 0.06). The exercise capacity after delayed repair was good in general compared to matched control subjects; however, exercise capacity may be slightly limited by ventilatory dysfunction, low anaerobic threshold, and lack of physical fitness despite New York Heart Association class improvement after undergoing the operation.

Increased Skeletal Muscle Capillary Density Precedes Diabetes Development in Men With Impaired Glucose Tolerance: A 15-Year Follow-Up

Gastrocnemius muscle morphology, metabolic potential, and capillarization were analyzed in 48-year-old men with regard to subsequent development of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) in 29 subjects with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and in 38 control subjects. Over a 15-year period, although participating in an intervention program, 13 of the IGT subjects developed diabetes, but none of the control subjects developed diabetes. In view of their poor aerobic capacity, lack of physical fitness, and reduced glycolytic and oxidative enzymes, these 13 subjects manifested an unexpectedly high number of capillaries around all types of muscle fibers, especially type IIb fibers, as predictors of their progression to diabetes. Moreover, the number of capillaries per muscle fiber and the 2-h insulin value in the oral glucose tolerance test were highly correlated (r = 0.82, P < 0.005), whereas no correlation was found among IGT subjects who remained nondiabetic and in the control group. With body mass index and the 2-h glucose concentration included in a regression model, 68% of the variation in the number of capillaries per muscle fiber was explained (P < 0.05), with the 2-h insulin value independently accounting for 33%. These findings may suggest that the increased circulating insulin concentrations in IGT subjects have a capillary proliferative effect, perhaps to compensate for reduced capillary insulin diffusion and metabolic capacity of the muscle.

Physical training: a tool for increasing work tolerance limits of employees engaged in manual handling tasks.

The lack of physical fitness is a contributing factor to the etiology of musculoskeletal disorders resulting from the manual handling of material in industry. Thus the major objectives of this paper were (1) to discuss the role of physical fitness in the control of occupational injuries; (2) to review techniques available in the exercise physiology literature for increasing human physical capacity in industry; and (3) to review and evaluate studies on the effects of physical training on individuals engaged in manual handling tasks.

Low Back Pain/Prolapsed Lumbar Intervertebral Disc

Low back pain is common throughout the adult years in both men and women; first episodes most frequently occur among people in their 20s and 30s. Prolapsed lumbar disc most often affects individuals in the age range 25-45 years; prolapses occur infrequently in persons below 20 years or over 65 years. Major risk factors for low back pain in general and for prolapsed disc specifically include frequent lifting of objects weighing 25 pounds or more, especially if the objects are lifted with the arms extended and with the knees straight and if the lifting is done while the body is twisted; exposure to whole-body vibration, including driving motor vehicles; cigarette smoking; and, for prolapsed lumbar disc, narrow lumbar vertebral canals. Possible risk factors for which the evidence is weak or inconsistent include frequent stretching, reaching, pulling, and pushing on the job; sedentary occupations; jobs in which workers stay in one position for long periods of time; recent employment in a physically demanding job; jobs requiring frequent twisting without lifting; tallness; heredity; extent of forward flexibility in the lumbar area; lack of physical fitness; pregnancies; psychological symptoms; and frequent participation in bowling. The methods suggested to date with the greatest potential for prevention include modification of jobs so as to reduce exposure to known occupational risk factors, and careful selection of workers by such means as strength testing for the particular job for which they are to be employed.

Physical fitness for all.

• There is evidence of continued neglect of those activities whereby men and women should strive to maintain a healthful degree of physical strength, agility, and endurance. A lack of physical fitness limits one's opportunities for a full enjoyment of professional and personal life. Formal exercises can take the place, to some extent, of physical work. A planned program of exercises can be adapted to the individual's age, and, by progressing from a cautious beginning, it can be developed sufficiently to undo the mischief of long periods of neglect. The physical activity also results in certain mental satisfactions that make for a feeling of alertness and power. A set of exercises chosen from those herein described can increase the individual's ability to meet the day's physical and mental tasks.

Motivation of physical exercises

The aim of teaching physical exercises is to co6rdinate the mental and motor interests in order to produce and maintain a state of sound health in the child. Attaining this goal is the best the school can do for future generations, and for this reason physical training should receive as much if not more attention than any subject in the curriculum. The chief reason why it has not obtained more desirable results in the past is that it has consisted mainly of a set of mechanical exercises which were required by the school. These, however, were uninteresting to the majority, because they were related to neither the experiences, desires, nor needs of the pupils. The part of the physical training which was voluntary was interesting because of the motives of class and individual rivalry, and was suited to the comparative few who naturally excelled in the work. But those who needed the training the most because of their lack of physical fitness were barred from the interesting portion of the subject by the high standard which they could not hope to attain. The natural result was that the few who did take part did not need the work as much as they did the other subjects of the curriculum which they neglected because of the excessive interest in athletic contests, while the others who should have had the work to counteract the ill effects of too much sedentary and mental effort dropped the part of the physical training which was not required. At that time the subject-matter was the prime factor of importance. Now there is a strong movement toward consideration of the individual. He is the one who is vital, not the subject-matter. At the present time schools are judged from the standpoint of what they do to develop each child, mentally, socially, and physically. They must do their share and also help to teach the parents how to bring the children to successful maturity. This cannot be done unless there is efficient co6peration among all those dealing with the child in his school life. The parent, teacher, physician, nurse, superintendent, and school board should all cooperate in promoting the development of the child. The first consideration should be to obtain a proper environment, from a hygienic standpoint, during school hours. The problems to