Safety evaluation in the use of fitness equipment by the elderly

Abstract This study aimed to evaluate the safety of elders during the use of fitness equipment. Ninety subjects were interviewed, 64 women (71.11%) and 26 men (28.89%). Data were collected through a questionnaire. Answers were treated with frequency analysis and then compared by Qui-squared test (a = 0.05), allowing to conclude that fitness practice’s primary goal was to improve health conditions (60.83%), and hydro-gymnastics was the second activity that most interested subjects (80.00%). Among the subjects, 54.44% reported some difficulty to use equipments, particularly treadmill, leg press, extensor chair, machine chest press and pulley. Despite that, subjects were familiarized with equipments, and 87.78% of them declared feeling safe or completely safe using the machines and expressing no need for human help or any object support during the entry, execution or exit of all machines. Among the most recurrent health conditions, articulation conditions and diverse (cardiovascular, respiratory and diabetes) showed the highest frequency (34.86% and 38.53%, respectively). Results did not keep correspondence with the observed behavior, and this bias may express the personal teacher-student relation, defining answers that protected the physical education professor.

摘要 本研究旨在评估老年人使用健身器材时的安全性。本研究共纳入90名受试者接受访谈，其中女性64名（占比71.11%），男性26名（占比28.89%）。数据通过问卷调查收集，采用频次分析对问卷结果进行处理，并通过卡方检验（Chi-squared test，α=0.05）开展比较分析。结果显示，健身锻炼的首要目标为改善健康状况（占比60.83%），水中健美操是受试者第二感兴趣的运动项目（占比80.00%）。54.44%的受试者报告使用器材时存在一定困难，尤以跑步机、腿部推蹬训练器、伸腿训练椅、坐姿胸推训练器及滑轮训练器为甚。尽管如此，多数受试者已熟悉各类健身器材，87.78%的受试者表示使用器材时感觉安全或完全安全，且在进出、操作及离开所有器材的过程中无需他人协助或借助任何辅助器械。在最常见的健康状况中，关节病症及多类合并症（涵盖心血管疾病、呼吸系统疾病与糖尿病）占比最高，分别为34.86%与38.53%。研究结果与观察到的行为并不一致，该偏倚可能源于师生间的私人关系，导致受访者给出了袒护体育教师的回答。