A Retrospective Evaluation of Physical Fitness Maintenance in Members of a Southeastern US City Professional Firefighting Department

Details

• Personal Author:
  Arnett SW ; Morris CE ; Tolusso DV
• Description:
  The purpose of this study was to retrospectively assess and track the annual physical fitness performance of the members of a professional firefighting department. As part of the annual health and fitness testing (data from 2002-2017), 153 firefighters had their physical fitness evaluated using standardised and recommended protocols published by the International Association of Fire Fighters. Handgrip strength performance exhibited a significant decline from baseline (p < .05). Static arm pull and static leg pull performance as well as flexibility were slightly improved and largely able to be maintained throughout the length of the study (p > .05) until the final years (p < .05). Neither push-up nor plank hold performance significantly changed from baseline (p > .05). Based on these findings, the proposed 30-minute exercise requirement does not appear to provide a stimulus to offset declines in all fitness variables. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Emergency Responders Firefighters Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Firefighting Field-testing Fire Fighters First Responder First Responders Health-related Fitness Physical Exercise Physical Fitness Physiological Testing Strength And Conditioning
• ISSN:
  2045-7804
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Alabama ; Kentucky ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  261-276
• Volume:
  8
• Issue:
  3
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20068010
• Citation:
  Int J Hum Factors Ergon 2021 Oct; 8(3):261-276
• Contact Point Address:
  Cody E. Morris, Department of Human Studies, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1150 10th Avenue South, Birmingham, AL 35233, USA
• Email:
  cemorris@uab.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2022
• Performing Organization:
  University of Cincinnati
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  International Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomics
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:0250283a4627c6d4066d8cf18dabdd76e3f4b0298803bc4637fa06949df2999afd5f6180a05f0bb19ea79ddc1e753003e03fb04dae86ced5520d65f8c531631d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/230241/cdc_230241_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 536.80 KB ]