Introduction. The unique demands of firefighting results in acute, recurrent, or chronic pain complications. We aimed to describe the percentage distribution of number and location of painful sites among FFs and determine whether work limitations differed based on the number or location of painful sites, age, and/or sex. Methods. About 325 firefighters completed a work limitation questionnaire (WLQ-26) and a checklist to indicate painful regions of the body using either a paper format or an online survey. A one-way ANOVA was employed to analyze the transformed work limitation scores; this was a two-sided test with a significance level of <0.05, to determine if work limitations differed among firefighters based on the number or location of painful sites, age, and/or sex. Results. The data analyzed consisted of 325 ( men = 216 , women = 109 ) FFs in total. The percentage distribution of the number of painful sites in our study cohort was 43% no pain, 17% one painful site, 19% two painful sites, and 21% three or more painful sites. The percentage distribution of the locations of painful sites was 43% no pain, 41% spine, 9% lower extremity, and 7% upper extremity. An estimated 31% of FFs ( n = 102 ) reported non-MSK comorbidities with 23% ( n = 76 ) reporting at least one non-MSK comorbidity and 8% ( n = 26 ) reported having two or more comorbidities. FFs > 45 years of age experienced more physical work limitations than FFs ≤ 45 years (mean difference: 0.74/10; 95% CI .19-1.29; p = 0.008 ). Conclusions. The majority of firefighters reported having at least one painful site and indicated the spine as the most common painful location. Age, the number of painful sites, and location of pain were identified as a potential contributor to physical/mental and work output limitations.
The extent to which self-report activity measured by the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) can substitute performance-based functional capacity measured by the Six-Minute Walk Test (6MWT) remains inconclusive. This study assessed Physical Activity (PA) and Functional Exercise Capacity (FEC); and also determined the relationship between PA and FEC in apparently healthy young adults. A total of 342 (145 males and 197 females) undergraduates of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ile, Nigeria participated in the study. The IPAQ was used to assess PA, while FEC was assessed using the 6MWT, and expressed in terms of the Six-Minute Walk Distance (6MWD), Six-Minute Walk Work (6MWW), Maximum Oxygen Uptake (VO2max) and Metabolic Equivalent (METS). Anthropometric and cardiovascular parameters were measured following standardized procedures. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The alpha level was set at 0.05. The mean age of the participants was 22.0±2.87 years. The mean IPAQ score of all participants was 1471.4±1086.93. The percentage for low, moderate and high PA was 19% (65), 41.2% (141) and 39.8% (136), respectively. The mean 6MWD, 6MWW, VO2max and METS were 639.47 ±66.6 m, 41805.0 ±8520.6 kg·m, 28.9 ±1.92 mlO2k-1min-1, 4.05 ±0.32 mL/kg, respectively. There were signifi cant positive correlations between PA and each of the 6MWD (r=0.268; p=0.001), 6MWW (r=0.219; p=0.001), VO2max (r=0.268; p=0.001), METS (r=0.268; p=0.001). Measures of exercise capacity were not signifi cantly correlated with the anthropometric variables (p>0.05). Self-report of physical activity in healthy young adults does not adequately substitute the results of the Six-Minute Walk Test. Mbada Ch.E., Osifeso T.A., Johnson O.E., Okonji A.M., Odeyemi E.A. Self-reported physical activity versus physical function capacity: alternatives for energy expenditure estimation. Med Rehabil 2016; 20(4): 4-12. DOI: 10.5604/01.3001.0009.5479 null
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