Exploring physical performance using basic fitness test among collegiate students.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of recreational status, body weight and risk factors on physical fitness of general students and on agility of physical therapy students. METHODS: The cross-sectional study was conducted at Taibah University, Medina, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, from November 2018 to April 2019, and comprised general and physical therapy students from the College of Medical Rehabilitation Sciences. Data was obtained related to risk factors, like overweight, smoking and recreational status. Upper body strength, agility and endurance were measured using flexed-arm hang, 11x10 shuttle sprint test, and 1000-meter run test respectively. Data was analysed using SPSS 23. RESULTS: Of the 50 subjects, 30(60%) were physical therapy students and 20(40%) were general students. Overall mean age of the sample was 21.54±1.83 years (range: 18-26), and mean body mass index was 23.34±3.37kg/m2 (range: 16.8-29.4kg/m2). The mean values for overweight status and number of risk factors were significantly different for the shuttle-sprint test (p<0.05), but were non-significant for the recreational status (p>0.05). All the assessed variables had non-significant association (p>0.05) in terms of flexed-arm hang test. Overall, 29(58%) subjects could not complete the 1000-meter run test, and 44(88%) found it a strong exertion. Conclusions: Unhealthy lifestyle significantly impaired physical fitness. gain by the diabetics.

Trunk extensors endurance with arms parallel to the trunk is superior to other arms positions: Randomized controlled trial.

Objectives: To compare the effect of arms positions on the static endurance ability of trunk extensors, and to investigate the effect of home endurance training of trunk extensors on isokinetic outputs. METHODS: The prospective, randomised, assessor-blinded, controlled- intervention study was conducted from December 2017 to October 2019 at the College of Medical Rehabilitation Sciences, Taibah University, Madinah, Saudi Arabia, and comprised males aged 20-24 years who were randomly assigned to one of the four groups. Group A had their hands above the head, group B had their hands behind the head, group C had their hands parallel to their trunk, and group D had their hands on the chest. Data was collected at baseline, and after 6 and 8 weeks of static trunk extensors endurance training. Isokinetic outputs of peak torque and average power were also measured. Data was analysed using SPSS 23. RESULTS: Of the 60 participants, 15(25%) were in each of the four groups. The overall mean age was 22.02±1.2 years. At baseline, there was no significant difference among the groups (p>0.05). There was significant intra-group improvement for all outcome variables after 6 and 8 weeks of training (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Static endurance of the trunk extensors with having arms parallel to the trunk was superior to other arm positions, especially after six and eight weeks of training but didn't affect the isokinetic outputs. Clinical Trial Number: NCT03107676.