Assessment of Physical Fitness Aspects and Their Relationship to Firefighters' Job Abilities

Michaelides, Marcos; Parpa, Koulla; Henry, Leah J; Thompson, Gerald B; Brown, Barry S.

doi:10.1519/jsc.0b013e3181cc23ea

Cited by 139 publications

(206 citation statements)

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“…Providing respiratory protection devices to firefighters has become standard policy in many fire departments around the world, although the devices may not always be optimally used 3) . The importance of assessing physical fitness and performance when monitoring firefighters' health and selecting new recruits has also increased 4,5) . The aim of this ongoing study is to investigate how changes in lung function over time in male metropolitan firefighters compare with those in population controls, and to explore associations between firefighters' use of personal respiratory protection devices during occupational exposures and their risk of accelerated lung function decline.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Change in Lung Function over Time in Male Metropolitan Firefighters and General Population Controls: A 3‐year Follow‐up Study

Schermer

Malbon

Adams

et al. 2013

Journal of Occupational Health

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Change in Lung Function over Time in Male Metropolitan Firefighters and General Population Controls: A 3‐year Follow‐up Study: Tjard R. SCHERMER, et al. Discipline of General Practice, School of Population Health, The University of Adelaide, Australia Objective Previous studies in firefighters have been contradictory regarding their course of lung function over time. The aim of this ongoing study is to investigate how changes in lung function over time in male metropolitan firefighters compare with those in population controls, and to explore associations between firefightersï¿½ use of personal respiratory protection devices during occupational exposures and their risk of accelerated lung function decline. Methods A prospective comparison of FEV1 (forced expiratory volume in 1 second) and FVC (forced vital capacity) was performed between 281 firefighters and 933 population controls. Logistic regression models were used to compare changes from baseline of FEV1 and FVC after 3 years and risk of accelerated decline between the cohorts. Within the firefighter cohort, risk of accelerated decline was compared between subgroups based on use of respiratory protection devices. Results Controls showed similar mean annual declines for FEV1 and FVC across age categories, whereas firefighters aged <45 years showed increasing values over time (p=0.040). Firefighters had a lower odds of accelerated FEV1 decline compared with controls (OR=0.60, 95%CI 0.44; 0.83), but firefighters who never or rarely used respiratory protection during fire knockdown had a higher odds of accelerated FEV1 decline compared with those who used it often or frequently (OR=2.20, 95%CI 1.02; 4.74). Conclusions: Younger generations of firefighters showed an increase in lung function relative to older colleagues, while population controls consistently showed decline of lung function across all ages. Firefighters who reported to be incompliant in using respiratory protection showed an increased risk of accelerated FEV1 decline.

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Change in Lung Function over Time in Male Metropolitan Firefighters and General Population Controls: A 3‐year Follow‐up Study

Schermer

Malbon

Adams

et al. 2013

Journal of Occupational Health

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“…Specifically, previous research has demonstrated that power output is a significant predictor of firefighting performance in active-duty firefighters. [3][4][5] This study utilized firefighter candidates preparing to become active-duty firefighters. Thus, it is possible that the relationships between BOMB throw performance and measures of CMJ performance may differ between firefighter candidates and active-duty firefighters.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since previous research suggests that anaerobic power output is a significant determinant of firefighter performance, [3][4][5] practitioners have recently begun recommending that firefighters engage in power training in an attempt to enhance firefighting performance. 20 Thus, valid field-expedient assessments of power output, such as the BOMB throw, are necessary to monitor the impact and efficacy of these training programs on an individual's power output.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, anaerobic power output has recently been demonstrated as a significant predictor of firefighting performance. [3][4][5] However, few studies have investigated anaerobic power output among the firefighter population. This may be due to a lack of valid and reliable assessments of power output that can be easily and inexpensively applied among firefighter-specific environments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…6 Although the validity of the BOMB throw has been examined among various athlete populations, [7][8][9] it has yet to be examined among a tactical athlete population, such as firefighters. Furthermore, since total body power output during a vertical jump test has been previously demonstrated as a significant predictor firefighting performance, 4 the BOMB throw may prove to be a useful tool to assess the total body power output among firefighters.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Backwards overhead medicine ball throw and countermovement jump performance among firefighter candidates

Cornell¹,

Gnacinski²,

Langford³

et al. 2015

Journal of Trainology

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Objectives:To examine the relationships between performance during a backward overhead medicine ball (BOMB) throw and measures of countermovement jump (CMJ) performance among firefighter candidates. Design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: Forty-three firefighter candidates volunteered to participate in this study (age = 28.1 ± 7.1 yrs; height = 180.6 ± 6.0 cm; weight = 88.6 ± 12.3 kg). Bivariate Pearson correlations were used to examine the relationship between BOMB throw performance (m/kg) and measures of CMJ performance, including: peak CMJ height (cm/kg), peak CMJ force output (N/kg), peak CMJ velocity (cm/sec/kg), and peak CMJ power output (W/kg). Results: Statistically significant (p < 0.05) correlations were identified between: BOMB throw and peak CMJ height (r = 0.693, p < 0.001), peak CMJ force output (r = 0.349, p = 0.022), and peak CMJ velocity (r = 0.477, p < 0.001). Although significant relationships were identified between BOMB throw performance and several of CMJ performance measures, BOMB throw performance accounted for little of the total variance between these measures (R 2 = 7-48%). Furthermore, the relationship between BOMB throw and peak CMJ power output was not statistically significant (r = 0.292, p = 0.057). Conclusions: These results imply that the BOMB throw lacks criterion-reference validity to other standard field-based measures of power output. Thus, practitioners should exhibit caution when utilizing the BOMB throw to assess power output among firefighter candidates. In addition, future research should examine the criterion-reference validity of other field-expedient assessments among firefighter candidates and active-duty firefighters.

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The influence of cardiometabolic risk factors on cardiorespiratory fitness in volunteer Chilean firefighters

Espinoza

Floody

Martínez‐Salazar

et al. 2019

American J Hum Biol

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ObjectivesMaximum oxygen consumption (VO2max) plays a fundamental role in firefighters' occupational activities due to the high intensity tasks they perform in their professional duties. In Chile, firefighters are volunteers (non‐salary) and their lack of continuous and programmed physical activity may affect their physical fitness and health. The goal of this study was to determine the influence of anthropometric parameters and cardiometabolic risk (CMR) factors on the cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) of volunteer Chilean firefighters.MethodsSeventy‐six volunteer male firefighters (median [5‐95 percentiles]) aged 27.5 years [26‐56], body mass index (BMI) 27.7 kg m−2 [19.9‐35], and VO2max 44 mL kg−1 min−1 [36‐56]) participated in the study. The following variables were assessed: BMI, fat mass%, body density, waist circumference (WC), waist‐to‐hip ratio (WHR), blood pressure, blood glucose, and VO2max.ResultsIn total, 68% of the samples were overweight or obese. A total of 36% presented abdominal obesity (WC ≥102 cm). High blood pressure (HBP) was observed in 25% of firefighters and high blood glucose was found in about 20%. The presence of abdominal obesity was the strongest predictor of VO2max (OR = 12.35, 95% CI = 3.56‐42.82, P < .001), followed by the WHR (OR = 11.5, 95% CI = 3.1‐42.7, P < .001) and high blood glucose (OR = 2.87, 95% CI = 1.7‐7.3, P = 0.019).ConclusionThis study showed that abdominal obesity in firefighters was the strongest predictor of low CRF. In addition, CRF was associated with CMR factors, except for HBP.

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Assessment of Physical Fitness Aspects and Their Relationship to Firefighters' Job Abilities

Cited by 139 publications

References 10 publications

Change in Lung Function over Time in Male Metropolitan Firefighters and General Population Controls: A 3‐year Follow‐up Study

Change in Lung Function over Time in Male Metropolitan Firefighters and General Population Controls: A 3‐year Follow‐up Study

Backwards overhead medicine ball throw and countermovement jump performance among firefighter candidates

The influence of cardiometabolic risk factors on cardiorespiratory fitness in volunteer Chilean firefighters

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