Diagnosis of health-related physical fitness in office workers of the Federal University of Viçosa

Abstract

The behavioral demands and the particularities of the activities performed by the employees from offices at the Federal University of Viçosa can offer a series of negative factors for health. The interface with the computer and task characteristics give a great body and also cognitive demands, that allied to several factors can represent the appearance or worsening repetitive lesions and/or work related problems in the skeletal muscle (Cumulative Trauma Disorders) . This study aimed to diagnose the workers’ situation in relation to General Human Factors (GHF) and level of Health-Related Fitness (HRF)components: cardiorrespiratory; flexibility; strength and percent of body fat. The sample was composed by 46 workers. For both sexes, the GHF variables of higher significance were: “posture perception”; “sensation of local pains and those from some movement or task” in the back, shoulders and arms areas. Referring to HRF, both sexes presented unsatisfactory levels for trunk-hip flexibility “ and great part of men were classified as” below average “ in the push-up test” which are risk factors for CTD. Significant portion of them presented high percent of body fat (25,0%) or were “obese” (14,2%). In general terms of HFR, there should be interventions, such as physical activity and/or sports programs for this group of employees at this institution. It is suggested that actions should also be taken in the leisure activity offering, once it was shown that 39,2% of the men and 44,4% of the women have in TV their main leisure activity.