An Investigation into Physical Activity Levels in Primary School Playgrounds
Journal Title: Sports and Exercise Medicine – Open Journal - Year 2017, Vol 3, Issue 2
Abstract
Background: As children spend roughly 30 hours per week at school, the associated benefits of physical activity (PA) can be developed within physical education (PE) lessons, break times and after school activities. Therefore, the main aims of this investigation were to (i) investigate the differences between males and females PA levels across the tarmac area during lunch time, (ii) investigate the impact of staff/teacher supervision and (iii) to determine the effect of the weather on PA within the playground during lunch times and (iv) finally establish how pupils feel levels of PA could be increased during lunchtime. Methods: A mixed methods approach was undertaken to explore children’s PA levels and the effect of gender, adult supervision and weather during school lunchtimes using n=132 participants aged 5-12 years. Moderate-to-vigorous (MPVA) PA levels were measured using systematic scans in 3 playground areas during 3 separate lunchtimes using an adapted version of McKenzie’s pro forma. Focus groups on n=16 pupils aged 7-11 years were conducted to help improve understanding of the effects of supervision and weather on PA, and how levels of PA can be increased. Results: Paired sample t-tests results revealed that males were significantly more active in area one than area two (p=0.04) and females were significantly more active in area three than area one (p<0.01). Focus groups highlighted that supervisors made little impact upon PA, whilst hotter weather was reported to negatively affect PA levels, as children engaged in less active activities to avoid sweating. Conclusions: Overall males were observed to have higher levels of PA during the study, supervisors were important for health and safety but rarely encouraged PA and finally, participants claimed that they were less active when it was hotter.
Authors and Affiliations
Claire Mills
Cervical Strain/Whiplash Associated Disorder (WAD) Management
Introduction: “Cervical strain and whiplash” secondary to a motor vehicle accident (MVA) are commonly treated in an emergency room and frequently referred to outpatient physical therapy care. Though, the Quebec Task Forc...
Functional Movement Analysis in the Differential Diagnosis of a Patient with a Posterolateral Corner Knee Injury
Study Design: Resident’s case study. Background and Purpose: Functional Movement Analysis (FMA) including observational gait analysis are powerful tools that can be used to guide patient examination and differential diag...
The Importance of Measuring Body Composition in Professional Football Players: A Commentary
Professional football players are not considered to be excessively fat, but there is continuous pressure made by managers, coaches and physiotherapists to monitor player’s body composition to help reach optimal performan...
Agreement Between Methods to Determine Procedure for Maximal Exhalation During Hydrostatic Weighing: A Methodological Investigation
Introduction: Current evidence suggests that there are many contentious issues that can significantly impact upon hydrostatic weighing assessments, for instance, obtaining reliable and precise data values within the test...
The Interventional Use of Water Treadmill Running During Long Periods of Injury
The aim of this brief study was to establish the efficacy of waist depth water Aquatic treadmill (ATM) running during a 28-day injury period where normal land based training was not possible. Synchronized tri-axial accel...