The Perceptions and knowledge of Physiotherapist regarding exercise and joint health in India

BACKGROUND: A physiotherapist plays a key role in assessing, monitoring, educating and prescribing exercise for RA. A few previous surveys across the goble emphasized on the lack of evidence to guide physiotherapist recognizing the early signs of RA, in knowledge of disease course, and in evidence-based interventions and therefore the ability to manage an individual with RA over the course of the disease. The study aims to investigate physiotherapists’ current practice in specific disease-related Knowledge and clinical skills required managing people with RA and extent to which they promote physical activity and exercise. METHOD: A cross-sectional national e-survey was sent to physiotherapists regarding their confidence in managing RA patients. Questionnaire Data developed from previous literatures included the following details: years of clinical experience, current RA clinical caseload, and professional qualifications, primary clinical area of practice, relevant treatment options in established or newly diagnosed cases and management goals. RESULT: A total of 478 physiotherapist responses were received.84% agreed to the fact that exercises does play an important role in joint health promotion. Almost 70% strongly agreed to factor that FIIT principal has to be taken in consideration while prescribing exercises. Approximately 48% were familiar with Index that measures disease activity and ACR-preferred tools for functional status assessment in RA. Moreover, 98% were having a clear perspective of different guidelines of management in RA and Osteoarthritis (OA).While considering the choice of treatment physical activity and educational advice were more preferred as compared to the modalities or manual therapy. CONCLUSION: The present practices are in lines with the current guidelines for RA management, but still most of them never prescribed high-intensity exercise and lacked knowledge of when to advice appropriate splints/orthoses. Even the recommendations regarding splints were not clear. So, there's a requirement to develop education and training for constantly upgrading physiotherapists within for the promotion of physical activity in rheumatoid arthritis patients.

Protocol for a Multi-Level Policy Analysis of Non-Communicable Disease Determinants of Diet and Physical Activity: Implications for Low- and Middle-Income Countries in Africa and the Caribbean

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading cause of death globally. Despite significant global policy development for addressing NCDs, the extent to which global policies find expression in low-and-middle income countries’ (LMIC) policies, designed to mitigate against NCDs, is unclear. This protocol is part of a portfolio of projects within the Global Diet and Activity Research (GDAR) Network, which aims to support the prevention of NCDs in LMICs, with a specific focus on Kenya, Cameroon, South Africa and Jamaica. This paper outlines the protocol for a study that seeks to explore the current policy environment in relation to the reduction of key factors influencing the growing epidemic of NCDs. The study proposes to examine policies at the global, regional and country level, related to the reduction of sugar and salt intake, and the promotion of physical activity (as one dimension of healthy placemaking). The overall study will comprise several sub-studies conducted at a global, regional and country level in Cameroon, Kenya and South Africa. In combination with evidence generated from other GDAR workstreams, results from the policy analyses will contribute to identifying opportunities for action in the reduction of NCDs in LMICs.

Dietary Interventions to Prevent Childhood Obesity: A Literature Review

Several dietary interventions have been conducted to prevent/reduce childhood obesity, but most of them are known to have failed in tackling the obesity epidemic. This study aimed to review the existing literature on dietary interventions for the prevention of childhood obesity and their effectiveness. A literature search was conducted using PubMed Central®. Only articles published between 2009 and 2021, written in English, conducted in humans, and including children and/or adolescents (<18 years old) were considered. The majority of studies were school-based interventions, with some addressing the whole community, and including some interventions in the food sector (e.g., taxation of high fat/sugar foods, front-of-pack labelling) and through mass media (e.g., restrictions on food advertising for children) that directly or indirectly could help to manage childhood obesity. Most of the programs/interventions conducted focus mainly on person-based educational approaches, such as nutrition/diet education sessions, allied to the promotion of physical activity and lifestyles to students, parents, and school staff, and less on environmental changes to offer healthier food choices. Only a few trials have focused on capacity building and macro-policy changes, such as the adaptation of the built environment of the school, serving smaller portion sizes, and increasing the availability and accessibility of healthy foods and water in schools, and restricting the access to vending machines, for example. Overall, most of the intervention studies showed no consistent effects on changing the body mass index of children; they have only reported small weight reductions, clinically irrelevant, or no effects at all. Little is known about the sustainability of interventions over time.

Promotion of physical activity-related health competence in physical education: A person-oriented approach for evaluating the GEKOS intervention within a cluster randomized controlled trial

A central goal of physical education (PE) is to empower students to be physically active in a health-enhancing way. Therefore, using a competence-based approach, the objective of the health- and fitness-related PE intervention ‘Promotion of physical activity-related health competence in PE’ (GEKOS) was to address practical and theoretical content regarding training, fitness, and health. The aim of this person-oriented study was to examine differential effects of the GEKOS intervention on control competence and related knowledge, skills, abilities, and motivation. A total of 860 ninth graders were randomly assigned to an intervention or control group. Intervention group students received six PE lessons that combined practical and theoretical content regarding training, fitness, and health. Measurements were taken before, directly after, and with a follow-up after 8–12 weeks. Students completed a knowledge test and a fitness test, and filled out scales considering motivation and perceived control competence. Latent profile analysis and multinomial logistic regression were estimated. Five patterns of outcome measures were found. Intervention group students transitioned significantly more often to patterns with improved outcome values. The intervention was especially effective for a subgroup of students who initially had rather low outcome values. For a small proportion of students, the intervention entailed a loss of health-related motivation. The study indicated that students with low control competence and related knowledge, skills, abilities, and motivation can benefit from the GEKOS intervention. Future studies should investigate modes of actions and interventions that explicitly address motivation and vary the content and methods used in PE.

Individual and Interpersonal Factors and Their Interaction Predicting the Intentional Physical Education Skipping Behavior among Lithuanian High School Students

The promotion of physical activity in physical education (PE) might be enabled only in the case that PE is attended. Intentional skipping of PE, while widespread, is understudied. The aim of the study is to identify individual and interpersonal correlates as well as their interaction effect on the intentional PE skipping behavior in Lithuanian high school students. This cross-sectional population-based study included 1285 students aged from 14 to 18 years old. Among them, 42.2 were male. PE skipping, sociodemographic, individual and interpersonal indicators were measured. Results revealed that 58.4% of high school students intentionally skip their PE class at least once per week. The main correlates of PE skipping are sedentary behavior and social participation. The main preventive factors are perception of PE usefulness, better self-rated health among direct predictors. Indirectly, social capital played a protective role for PE skipping classes through a more positive perception of PE usefulness. Raising awareness of physical education benefits, providing a rationale for physical education in the social contexts of family and school, in terms of family support and building trust with teachers, strengthening reciprocity at school indirectly prevents students’ PE skipping behaviors.

A Platform Based on Personalized Exergames and Natural User Interfaces to Promote Remote Physical Activity and Improve Healthy Aging in Elderly People

In recent years, there has been a significant growth in the number of research works focused on improving the lifestyle and health of elderly people by means of technology. Telerehabilitation and the promotion of physical activity at home have been two of the fields that have attracted more attention, especially currently due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, elderly people are sometimes reluctant to use technology at home, mainly due to fear of technology and lack of familiarity. In this context, this article presents a low-cost platform that relies on exergames and natural user interfaces to promote physical activity at home and improve the quality of life in elderly people. The underlying system is easy to use and accessible, offering a number of interaction mechanisms that guide users through the execution of routines and exercises. A relevant feature of the proposal is the ability to customize the exergames, making it possible for the therapist to adapt them according to the user’s needs. Motivation is also addressed within the developed platform to maintain the user’s engagement level as time passes by. An empirical experiment is conducted to measure the usability and motivational aspects of the proposal, which was evaluated by 17 users between 62 and 89 years of age. The obtained results showed that the proposal was well received, considering that most of the users were not experienced at all with exergame-based systems.

Perceptions and Barriers to Physical Activity in Childhood and Adulthood Among Latinas

Objective: The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify perceptions and barriers to physical activity in childhood and adulthood among Latina adults. Methods: We conducted 3 focus groups, 2 dyadic interviews, and an individual interview using semi-structured interview guides with 23 Latina women aged 21-35. A thematic analysis approach employing inductive and deductive coding was utilized to code, categorize, and summarize data into themes. Results: The themes that emerged focused on: (1) physical activity is enjoyable; (2) family influenced physical activity; (3) different lifestyle in the US influenced physical activity; (4) physical activity is important for health; and (5) responsibilities (eg, work, caregiving) as barriers to physical activity in adulthood. Conclusions: Perceptions and barriers to physical activity experienced in both childhood and adulthood should be considered in the promotion of physical activity among Latinas.

Physical activity levels and suggestions for its promotion among university students

Introduction: Physical activity not only has positive effects on health, but is also linked to various aspects of life. Physical activity is considered one of the main components that contribute to a healthy lifestyle and general improvement in health including physical strength, muscle endurance and flexibility. A variety of evidences show that regular physical activity is beneficial to health and strong scientific research exists that reported decreased mortality rate with an optimal level of physical activity. This study was designed to evaluate the physical activity status of university students and their suggestions to promote physical activity. Material & Methods: From January to October 2019, a cross-sectional study was conducted among 2,916 university students, studying at different universities in Faisalabad. The aim was to measure the levels of physical activity according to the pre-defined inclusion/exclusion criteria. Participants were enrolled in the study using convenient sampling. The questionnaire used in this study consisted of three sections, with the first part recording the demographics of the participants, the second part an International Physical Activity Questionnaire and the third part containing several suggestions for promoting physical activity. Logistic regression analysis was used for factors influencing physical activity behaviour. Confidence interval (CI=95%) and odds ratio (OR) were calculated and P-value <0.05 was considered significant. Results: The findings of our study revealed that 2469 (84.6%) of the students out of 2916 were physically active. Of 2916, 1541 (52.8%) participants were moderately active, while 928 (31.8%) participants were highly active. Overall 92.20% male were physically active compared to females 81.70%. Moreover, our study found that the most preferred suggestion for the promotion of physical activity proposed by the students (n=1011, 34.7%) was a provision of physical and social environments that encourage and allow safe and pleasurable physical activity. The least preferred suggestion by the students (n=735, 25.2%) was the addition of at least thirty minutes of exercise as part of the curriculum. Conclusion: This study found that the physical activity profile of most students was between moderate and high. The top-ranked suggestion for the promotion of physical activity among the students was a provision of physical and social environments that encourage and allow safe and pleasurable physical activity.