Aptidão física relacionada à saúde de policiais militares da Paraíba / Health­related physical fitness of military police officers in Paraiba, Brazil

Introdução: Boas relações entre os componentes da aptidão física relacionada à saúde (AFRS) melhoram o desempenho da atividade ocupacional de policiais militares. Objetivo: Verificar a relação entre componentes da AFRS em policiais militares do Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais (BOPE) e do Batalhão de Policiamento de Trânsito (BPTRAN). Método: Participaram do estudo 47 policiais com idades entre 26 e 49 anos do sexo masculino fracionados em dois grupos: BOPE (n=25) e o BPTRAN (n=22). Foi realizada uma bateria de testes: medidas antropométricas, teste de sentar-e-alcançar no banco de Wells, teste de abdominal de 1 minuto, teste de flexão dos cotovelos e teste vai-e-vem de 20 metros, para avaliar os componentes morfológico, cardiorrespiratório e neuromuscular da AFRS. Resultados: Ambos os grupos obtiveram de moderada à forte correlação negativa significante em relação à circunferência de cintura (CC), índice de massa corpórea (IMC) e percentual de gordura (PG) com a resistência muscular localizada (RML) (r=-0,589; r=-0,404; r=-0,637) e a força muscular dinâmica (FD) (r=0,592; r=-0,416; r=-0,651) (p<0,05). Contudo, houve correlações positivas e negativas significantes entre o consumo máximo de oxigênio (VO2 máx) e as variáveis CC, IMC, PG e RML (p<0,05), exceto para flexibilidade no BOPE. Conclusão: Existe uma forte correlação entre os componentes morfológico, cardiorrespiratório e neuromuscular, exceto para a flexibilidade em PMs do BOPE. Tal fato permite afirmar que a AFRS é uma variável global

Background: An adequate relationship among health­related physical fitness (HRPF) components improve the professional performance of military police officers (MOPs). Objective: To investigate the correlation among HRPF components for Special Police Operations (BOPE) and Traffic Police (BPTRAN) Battalion MOPs. Method: The sample comprised 47 male MOPs aged 26 to 49 years old divided in two groups BOPE (N=25) and BPTRAN (n=22). The participants were subjected to a test battery­anthropometric measurements, sit­and­ reach test, 1-minute sit­up test, elbow flexion test, and 20­meter shuttle run test­for evaluation of the HRPF morphological, cardiorespiratory and neuromuscular components. Results: Both groups exhibited moderate­to­strong correlation of waste circumference (WC), body mass index (BMI) and body fat percentage (BFP) with localized muscle resistance (LMR) (r=-0.589; r=-0.404; r=-0.637) and dynamic muscle strength (DMS) (r=0.592; r=-0.416; r=-0.651) (p<0.05). Significant positive and negative correlation was found between maximum oxygen consumption and WC, BMI, BFP and LMR (p<0.05) but not with flexibility for BOPE. Conclusion: There was strong correlation between the HRPF morphological, cardiorespiratory and neuromuscular components, except for flexibility among BOPE MPOs. The study findings allow inferring that HRPF is a global variable

Assessment of three-dimensional joint kinematics of the upper limb during simulated swimming using wearable inertial-magnetic measurement units.

The analysis of the joint kinematics during swimming plays a fundamental role both in sports conditioning and in clinical contexts. Contrary to the traditional video analysis, wearable inertial-magnetic measurements units (IMMUs) allow to analyse both the underwater and aerial phases of the swimming stroke over the whole length of the swimming pool. Furthermore, the rapid calibration and short data processing required by IMMUs provide coaches and athletes with an immediate feedback on swimming kinematics during training. This study aimed to develop a protocol to assess the three-dimensional kinematics of the upper limbs during swimming using IMMUs. Kinematics were evaluated during simulated dry-land swimming trials performed in the laboratory by eight swimmers. A stereo-photogrammetric system was used as the gold standard. The results showed high coefficient of multiple correlation (CMC) values, with median (first-third quartile) of 0.97 (0.93-0.95) and 0.99 (0.97-0.99) for simulated front-crawl and breaststroke, respectively. Furthermore, the joint angles were estimated with an accuracy increasing from distal to proximal joints, with wrist indices showing median CMC values always higher than 0.90. The present findings represent an important step towards the practical use of technology based on IMMUs for the kinematic analysis of swimming in applied contexts.

Assessment of a Microsoft Kinect-based 3D scanning system for taking body segment girth measurements: a comparison to ISAK and ISO standards.

Use of anthropometric data to infer sporting performance is increasing in popularity, particularly within elite sport programmes. Measurement typically follows standards set by the International Society for the Advancement of Kinanthropometry (ISAK). However, such techniques are time consuming, which reduces their practicality. Schranz et al. recently suggested 3D body scanners could replace current measurement techniques; however, current systems are costly. Recent interest in natural user interaction has led to a range of low-cost depth cameras capable of producing 3D body scans, from which anthropometrics can be calculated. A scanning system comprising 4 depth cameras was used to scan 4 cylinders, representative of the body segments. Girth measurements were calculated from the 3D scans and compared to gold standard measurements. Requirements of a Level 1 ISAK practitioner were met in all 4 cylinders, and ISO standards for scan-derived girth measurements were met in the 2 larger cylinders only. A fixed measurement bias was identified that could be corrected with a simple offset factor. Further work is required to determine comparable performance across a wider range of measurements performed upon living participants. Nevertheless, findings of the study suggest such a system offers many advantages over current techniques, having a range of potential applications.