RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Personal health behaviours and lifestyle habits of health professionals influence their counselling practices related to non-communicable diseases (NCDs). There are limited data on the prevalence of unhealthy lifestyle habits among medical students and the impact of acquired health knowledge throughout the curriculum. The aim of this study was to determine and compare the prevalence of modifiable behavioural NCD risk factors of medical students in different academic years at a South African tertiary institution. METHODS: A cross-sectional observational study of 532 consenting medical students was conducted. Participants completed five online questionnaires regarding lifestyle behaviours (physical activity, dietary habits, smoking, alcohol consumption and sleep). RESULTS: Lifestyle-related risk factors with the highest prevalence were poor sleep quality (66.0%), low levels of habitual physical activity (55.8%) and low-to-moderate diet quality (54.5%). There were no differences between academic years for all risk factors measured. Over 60% of the cohort had two or more NCD risk factors and this prevalence did not differ across the degree program with the acquisition of more health knowledge. CONCLUSION: Medical students have a high prevalence of poor sleep quality, low levels of physical activity and low-to-moderate diet quality, which does not appear to change over the course of their academic career. Sleep hygiene, regular physical activity and healthy nutrition should be targeted in intervention programmes and be more prevalent in the medical curriculum.
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Conductas Relacionadas con la Salud , Estudiantes de Medicina , Humanos , Estudios Transversales , Estudiantes de Medicina/estadística & datos numéricos , Estudiantes de Medicina/psicología , Masculino , Femenino , Sudáfrica/epidemiología , Adulto , Adulto Joven , Ejercicio Físico , Universidades , Factores de Riesgo , Prevalencia , Estilo de Vida , Encuestas y Cuestionarios , DietaRESUMEN
ABSTRACTRepetitive upper-quarter limb movements imposed by freestyle swimming may lead to muscle length and tension changes, predisposing adolescent swimmers to postural malalignment. The study aimed to quantify the static upper-quarter postural alignment of competitive female adolescent freestyle swimmers, and compare their results to non-swimming peers and angles of spinal sagittal posture available in the literature. A cross-sectional study design was employed. The evaluation group (EVAL) consisted of 35 competitive swimmers (15 ± 3 y; 166.5 ± 9.9 cm; 65.5 ± 7.7 kg) and the control group (CON) of 36 peers (15 ± 3 y; 164.2 ± 6.7 cm; 62.1 ± 9.1 kg). Spinal sagittal posture was measured by photographic posture analysis. Median ± interquartile range and inter-group differences were calculated. Significant differences (p = 0.00) between groups for all variables, with a moderate - large effect, were observed. EVAL demonstrated restricted median scores for head-tilt angle (-8.7°), cervical angle (-13.3°) and shoulder protraction - retraction angle (-24°), and a greater score for thoracic angle (+7.4°), when compared to CON. EVAL and CON deviated from proposed criterion scores for cervical and thoracic angles, with EVAL also deviating from head-tilt angle and shoulder protraction - retraction angle criteria. In this group of adolescent participants, postural malalignment may have been exacerbated by years of freestyle swim training. HighlightsSignificant differences with medium to large effect sizes were noted in the angles of spinal sagittal posture between the competitive female adolescent freestyle swimmers and their non-swimming peers.Competitive female adolescent freestyle swimmers appeared to be more vulnerable to postural features in the upper quarter that were not within the desirable angles of spinal sagittal posture.The inherent nature of competitive freestyle swimming and the natural consequence of long-term training may explain the moderate to large effect sizes observed.
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Hombro , Extremidad Superior , Humanos , Femenino , Estudios Transversales , Hombro/fisiología , Fotograbar/métodos , Postura/fisiologíaRESUMEN
PURPOSE: The main purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of fatigue on musculoarticular stiffness (MAS) of the ankle joint across sexes. METHODS: Twenty-seven males and 26 females participated in the study. After baseline assessment of MAS and related variables, localised fatigue was induced in triceps surae using the standing heel-rise test during which the subjects were instructed to lift and drop the heel at a frequency of 0.5â Hz. When subjects were unable to continue due to exhaustion the test was terminated and another MAS test was performed soon after. RESULTS: Significant higher triceps surae MAS was found in men compared to women (p < .01). MAS decreased (p < .01) between pre- and post-fatigue on average from 18.0 to 17.0â KNâ m-1 and from 14.5 to 13.9â KNâ m-1 in men and women, respectively. Percentage changes revealed, however, that in relative terms the changes in all the variables evaluated were similar (p > .01) between sexes, with MAS less than 5%. CONCLUSION: Despite the sex-related differences at baseline, fatigue seems to affect biomechanical properties of the ankle joint similarly in men and women.