Osteoporosis is a systemic skeletal disease that has great influence on functional independence and
quality of life, leading to reduced bone mass, microarchitectural deterioration, increased bone fragility, bone
fractures with minimal trauma, decreased bone mineral density and decrease bone quality. This quality is defined
by the bone health of it and is closely related to physical activity and body composition, genetic and hormonal
factors and nutrition. Under normal conditions, bone mineral density evolves, increased up to 27 years, leveling up
to 40. From here begins to decrease and there is a sharp decline in the menopausal stage and after it keeps a
sharp downward trend. Thus we aim to evaluate the physical condition of postmenopausal osteoporotic women,
assessing their functional status, different manifestations of strength and body composition.
After approval by the Ethics Committee of the North Health Region, we identified women
diagnosed with osteoporosis by dual-energy bone densitometry (DEXA), which showed inclusion criteria and who
wanted to participate in the study of their own free will. After assessment of blood pressure and heart rate were
subjected to:
a) Demographic variables
b) Quality of life evaluated with the osteoporosis assessment questionnaire (OPAQ) – 1 to 5 points represented by
numeric scale from 1 to 5, in which 1 represents better quality of life and 5 represents poor quality of life
c) Tinetti Falls Efficacy Scale [1]
d) Physical activity: short version of IPAQ (International Physical Activity Questionnaire).
e) Functional capacity: timed up and go test; 30 sec sit to stand; unipodal balance eyes shut
f) Height: stadiometer Seca
g) Handgrip strength of both hands: Jamar
h) Key pinch strength with digital dynamometer Baseline
hand dynamometer
i) Body composition: bioelectric impedance on Tanita Ironman Body Composition Monitor
The 18 women studied have an average age of 66,8±6,4 years, 148,2±5,3 cm of height and 57,4±6,2
Kg of weight which represents a BMI of 26,2±3,3. In the OPAQ the evaluated women achieved 3,1±0,7 points
and in the FES achieved 79,3±21,1 points. In the IPAQ 14 women were with low level of physical activity and 4
with moderated physical activity (average physical activity of 387,5±294,9METs). The average result of the timed
up and go test was 9,4±2,7 seconds, in the 30 sec sit to stand was 10,1±2,9 repetitions and in the unipodal
balance test was 4,1±6,9 seconds. When evaluating strength, we found 16,8±6,4 Kg/f for right handgrip strength
and 16,2±5,8 Kg/f for left handgrip strength. When evaluating key pinch strength we found 6,6±5,0 Kg/f and
6,3±5,2 Kg/f for the right and left hand, respectively. Analyzing the body composition average values, we have
33,6±6,0% for total body fat, 47,5±4,3% to body water, 2,0±0,2Kg to bone mass and 36,2±3,2 Kg to muscular
mass. Once established correlations between different variables, we can highlight some of the most important:
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Weight correlates with total body fat (0,561*) and with body water (-,470*);
BMI correlates with average OPAQ (0,529*), total body fat (0,732**) and body water (-0,709**);
timed up and go test correlates with average age (0,633**), sit to stand (-0,583*), handgrip right and left (-
0,581*; -0,504*)The participants in this study show similar values when compared with the population with similar
characteristics. The BMI value means that the participants are averagely overweight. Most of the women of the
study have reduced physical activity levels and none of them have high physical activity levels. We also can
conclude that weight as an important role on body composition and the timed up and go test is an easy and cheap
test that gives us much information about the physical functioning of these osteoporotic postmenopausal women.
The importance of physical activity in promoting health and well-being of the young adult population is
evidenced by several epidemiological studies. The increasing incidence in this population of cardiovascular,
metabolic and degenerative diseases and obesity has been linked with an epidemic variable, the sedentary
behavior, and commonly dubbed the “disease of the century”. Regular physical activity may contribute to the
development of muscle strength, improve the quality of soft tissue and bone mass, and decreased body fat. The
early inclusion of regular physical activity and other healthy lifestyles tend to be incorporated throughout life with
noticeable gains in health and quality of life in adult life.
In this study we assessed the physical activity level (PAL), muscle strength (MS) and body composition (BC) of 84
young adults in higher education with the following, assess physical activity; evaluate different
manifestations of muscle strength; assess body composition and analyze the relationship between muscle strength,
body composition and physical activity in young adults.
We drew up a descriptive, correlational and cross-cutting study. To achieve our objective we
collected the following data:
a) Physical activity: short version of IPAQ (International Physical Activity Questionnaire).
b) Muscle strength: hand grip of both hands with Jamar®
c) Key pinch strength with digital dynamometer Baseline
Hand Dynamometer;
®
d) Maximum isometric strength of the quadriceps in seat 45-degree incline leg press machine linked to a strain
gauge Ergo Meter – Globus
;
®
f) Body composition: bioelectric impedance on Tanita Ironman Body Composition Monitor
and appropriated software
g) Height: stadiometer Seca
A total of 84 university students were subject to this study, 66 females and 18 males with an average of
20,9±2,3 years old. In IPAQ classification we found 50 students with low, 25 with moderate and 9 with high level
of physical activity. Relatively to muscle strength there were significant correlations between handgrip strength (both
hands), key pinch strength (both hands) and isometric maximum strength of the quadriceps. Analysing body
composition we can observe that female students with more IMC and more body fat present higher levels of
physical activity. Regarding the male students, we can find the opposite: the lesser the percentage of body fat and
lower IMC levels the higher physical activity. We found no relation between the different strength demonstrations
and the levels of physical activity. When correlating handgrip strength (right hand; left hand) with body
composition, we observed correlations between:
®
Height (0,704**; 0,705**), total body fat (-0,412**; -0,428**), weight (0,406**; 0,463**), body water
(0,441**; 0,453**), visceral fat level (0,223*; 0,259*), bone mass (0,800**; 0,798**) and muscular mass
(0,816**; 0,803**).
When correlating key pinch strength (right hand; left hand) with body composition, we observed correlations
between:
Height (0,577**; 0,531**), total body fat (-0,389**; -0,252*), weight (0,336**; 0,424**), body water
(0,449**; 0,348**), bone mass (0,638**; 0,657**) and muscular mass (0,677**; 0,684**).
When correlating maximum isometric strength of the quadriceps with body composition, we observed correlations
between:
Height (0,355**), total body fat (-0,389**), body water (0,389**), bone mass (0,480**) and muscular mass
(0,490**).Results indicate that the evaluated university students are mainly sedentary. We also concluded that
there are very strong positive correlations between the different manifestations of strength and that there is no
relationship between the different manifestations of strength and levels of physical activity. Analyzing our results, we
can conjecture about why young people do exercise: females exercise themselves to lose height and males to
maintain physical condition. But there are strong correlations between the different manifestations of strength and
the different variables of body composition.
The importance of physical activity in promoting health and well-being of the young adult population is evidenced by several epidemiological studies. The increasing incidence in this population of cardiovascular, metabolic and degenerative diseases and obesity has been linked with an epidemic variable, the sedentary behavior, and commonly dubbed the “disease of the century”. Regular physical activity may contribute to the development of muscle strength, improve the quality of soft tissue and bone mass, and decreased body fat. The early inclusion of regular physical activity and other healthy lifestyles tend to be incorporated throughout life with noticeable gains in health and quality of life in adult life. In this study we assessed the physical activity level (PAL), muscle strength (MS) and body composition (BC) of 84 young adults in higher education with the following, assess physical activity; evaluate different manifestations of muscle strength; assess body composition and analyze the relationship between muscle strength, body composition and physical activity in young adults. We drew up a descriptive, correlational and cross-cutting study. To achieve our objective we collected the following data: a) Physical activity: short version of IPAQ (International Physical Activity Questionnaire). b) Muscle strength: hand grip of both hands with Jamar® c) Key pinch strength with digital dynamometer Baseline Hand Dynamometer; ® d) Maximum isometric strength of the quadriceps in seat 45-degree incline leg press machine linked to a strain gauge Ergo Meter – Globus ; ® f) Body composition: bioelectric impedance on Tanita Ironman Body Composition Monitor and appropriated software g) Height: stadiometer Seca A total of 84 university students were subject to this study, 66 females and 18 males with an average of 20,9±2,3 years old. In IPAQ classification we found 50 students with low, 25 with moderate and 9 with high level of physical activity. Relatively to muscle strength there were significant correlations between handgrip strength (both hands), key pinch strength (both hands) and isometric maximum strength of the quadriceps. Analysing body composition we can observe that female students with more IMC and more body fat present higher levels of physical activity. Regarding the male students, we can find the opposite: the lesser the percentage of body fat and lower IMC levels the higher physical activity. We found no relation between the different strength demonstrations and the levels of physical activity. When correlating handgrip strength (right hand; left hand) with body composition, we observed correlations between: ® Height (0,704**; 0,705**), total body fat (-0,412**; -0,428**), weight (0,406**; 0,463**), body water (0,441**; 0,453**), visceral fat level (0,223*; 0,259*), bone mass (0,800**; 0,798**) and muscular mass (0,816**; 0,803**). When correlating key pinch strength (right hand; left hand) with body composition, we observed correlations between: Height (0,577**; 0,531**), total body fat (-0,389**; -0,252*), weight (0,336**; 0,424**), body water (0,449**; 0,348**), bone mass (0,638**; 0,657**) and muscular mass (0,677**; 0,684**). When correlating maximum isometric strength of the quadriceps with body composition, we observed correlations between: Height (0,355**), total body fat (-0,389**), body water (0,389**), bone mass (0,480**) and muscular mass (0,490**).Results indicate that the evaluated university students are mainly sedentary. We also concluded that there are very strong positive correlations between the different manifestations of strength and that there is no relationship between the different manifestations of strength and levels of physical activity. Analyzing our results, we can conjecture about why young people do exercise: females exercise themselves to lose height and males to maintain physical condition. But there are strong correlations between the different manifestations of strength and the different variables of body composition.
