The physical therapist's role in physical activity promotion

Clinicians are increasingly confronted with the diseases of physical inactivity. Paradoxically, a promising strategy to motivate sedentary individuals to become more active is the opportunity to encourage physical activity related behavioural change when individuals encounter health professionals. Although health care professionals trained in exercise prescription are recognised as having the potential to play an important role in promoting regular physical activity, their role has been minimal in multi-disciplinary approaches to date. Even so, the role of physical therapists has gone largely unrecognised. Nevertheless, because of their training and experience, physical therapists are ideally placed to promote the health and well being of individuals and the general public through physical activity and exercise prescription. Therefore, physical therapists, general practitioners and other caregivers alike should become aware of the physical therapist's potential in promoting safe and healthy physical activity

Dynamic balance and ankle injury odds: a prospective study in 196 Dutch physical education teacher education students

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate whether dynamic balance, measured with the anterior component of the Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT-ANT), is a risk factor for ankle injuries in physical education tea

Reasons and predictors of discontinuation of running after a running program for novice runners

Objectives: To determine the proportion of participants of a running program for novice runners that discontinued running and investigate the main reasons to discontinue and characteristics associated with discontinuation. Design: Prospective cohort study. Methods: The study included 774 participants of Start to Run, a 6-week running program for novice runners. Before the start of the program, participants filled-in a baseline questionnaire to collect information on demographics, physical activity and perceived health. The 26-weeks follow-up questionnaire was used to obtain information on the continuation of running (yes/no) and main reasons for discontinuation. To determine predictors for discontinuation of running, multivariable logistic regression was performed. Results: Within 26 weeks after the start of the 6-week running program, 29.5% of the novice runners (n = 225) had stopped running. The main reason for discontinuation was a running-related injury (n = 108, 48%). Being female (OR 1.74; 95% CI 1.13–2.68), being unsure about the continuation of running after the program (OR 2.06; 95% CI 1.31–3.24) and (almost) no alcohol use (OR 1.62; 95%CI 1.11–2.37) were associated with a higher chance of discontinuation of running. Previous running experience less than one year previously (OR 0.46; 95% CI 0.26–0.83) and a higher score on the RAND-36 subscale physical functioning (OR 0.98; 95% CI 0.96–0.99) were associated with a lower chance of discontinuation. Conclusions: In this group of novice runners, almost one-third stopped running within six months. A running-related injury was the main reason to stop running. Women with a low perceived physical functioning and without running experience were prone to discontinue running