Relationship among functional mobility, physical activity and aerobic fitness in athletes with visual impairment
Ferhat Esatbeyoğlu1
, Ayşe Kin İşler2
1Faculty of Sport Sciences, Bozok University, Yozgat, Turkey
2Exercise and Sports Sciences Department, Faculty of Sports Sciences, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey
Keywords: Paralympic athlete, aerobic performance, functional performance, blind person, visual impairment
Abstract
Objective: To investigate the relationship among functional mobility, physical activity (PA), and aerobic fitness levels in athletes with a visual impairment (VI).
Material and Methods: Participants were 34 athletes with VI aged 24.6±5.2 years. Following anthropometric measurements, PA level determination questionnaire was administrated to athletes with a VI. Functional mobility was assessed using the timed up and go (TUG) test and aerobic fitness was measured with the 6-minute walking (6MW) test. Pearson’s r correlations were used to investigate the association among TUG, PA levels and 6MW test parameters.
Results: Average time taken to complete the TUG test for athletes with a VI was 6.82±0.92 s. Additionally, maximal heart rate was 146.3±7.8 bmp, total distance covered (TD) during 6MW test was 600.6±90.4 m and mean peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak) was 43.4±4.0 ml.min-1.kg-1. There were moderate positive correlations between 6MW-TD and total, walking and high intensity MET scores (r=0.41, p=0.02; r=0.69, p=0.00 ; r=0.38, p=0.00, respectively) whereas there were no correlations between 6MW-TD and moderate MET score (p=0.95). Moderate positive correlations were also observed between VO2peak , and total and high intensity MET scores (r=0.35, p=0.04; r=0.66, p=0.00, respectively). In contrast, VO2peak did not correlate with moderate intensity and walking MET scores (p=0.81; p=0.19, respectively). Moreover, moderate negative correlations were found between TUG and total and walking MET scores (r=-0.40, p=0.02; r=-0.51, p=0.00, respectively). On the other hand, there were no significant correlations between TUG and moderate and high intensity MET scores (p=0.18; p=0.77, respectively).
Conclusion: Based upon these findings, we conclude that higher PA level increases the functional mobility and aerobic fitness in athletes with VI. Consequently, practices, increasing the PA levels of individuals with VI should be prioritized.
Cite this article as: Esatbeyoglu F, Kin Isler A. Relationship among functional mobility, physical activity and aerobic fitness in athletes with visual impairment. Turk J Sports Med. 2022, 57(2):73-8; http://doi.org/10.47447/tjsm.0617
The approval for this study was obtained from Hacettepe University Ethics Committee (Decision no: 2019/08-35 Date: 19.03.2019).
Concept FE, AKİ; Design FE; Supervision AKİ; Materials FE, AKİ; Data Collection and/or Processing FE; Analysis and Interpretation FE, AKİ; Literature Review FE, AKİ; Writing Manuscript FE; Critical Reviews AKİ
The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to authorship and/or publication of the article.
The authors received no financial support for the research and/or publication of this article.
