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Camargo Lemos D.M.1, Bohórquez Blanco S.1, Lizarazo Aguilar I.1, Ramírez Ramírez E.1, Ramírez Muñoz P.C.1
1Universidad Industrial de Santander, Santander, Bucaramanga, Colombia
Background: In recent years there has been a significant increase in the provision of Outdoor Gyms (OG) in public spaces of different cities, usually installed in parks. Latin American countries as well as USA, Australia and UK are part of this trend. As far as we know, the physical conditions of these areas and equipment have not been evaluated before; additionally, we don´t know who are the users or the frequency of injury resulting from its use.
Purpose: To evaluate the muscle skeletal injuries as consequence of use the outdoor gyms and its quality in three public parks installed in Bucaramanga, Colombia.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was done in the OG of three parks in Bucaramanga. We applied a survey asking for socio-demographic variables, physical activity (PA) level, and characteristics of use. In addition, we asked for injuries related with use of OG equipment. The quality conditions of the OG were established applying the Measure Quality of Outdoor Gyms tool. Physical activity level was obtained using the System for Observing Play and Recreation in Communities in its electronic version (i-SOPARC). Log-binomial regression models were applied for the analysis.
Results: A total of 134 OG-users participated in the survey, mean age 46 ± 17.3 years, 37.3% men. About 90% of respondents reported being user OG and 94.2% believe it improves their level of physical activity. Regarding the weekly frequency of visits to the park, before and after being installed the OG, a median of 1 and 4 were found, respectively. Likewise, an average of 42 ± 23 minutes of daily use was recorded. The contribution of the OG to increase the physical activity level was reported by 94% of users, only 3% reported injuries related with use of OG. A total of 41 observations for PA were made, with 3527 records, 1754 for men and 1773 for women. For the weekend, a significant association was found for women in walking and vigorous categories comparing to men (p = 0.02).
Regarding the conditions of the equipment only 1 OG registered more than 70% with good cleaning and proper functioning; all were classified with low quality ( 30%) for painting.
A positive association was found between OG and to practice moderate to vigorous PA (RP 1.3).
Conclusion(s): The prevalence of injuries due to use of OG is low, and the physical activity realized on these equipments is apparently safe for users. The OG encourage the practice of physical activity, but is necessary to promote educational programs for the people, related with OG care and proper use of the equipment.
Implications: The benefits offered by open public spaces for physical activity at a community level have been extensively studied. Physical therapists should work together, with public decision-makers, to ensure a good uses, maintenance and the quality of these spaces.
Funding acknowledgements: To Administrative Department of Science, Technology and Innovation from Colombia, “Colciencias”.
Topic: Health promotion & wellbeing/healthy ageing
Ethics approval: This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at Industrial University of Santander (UIS).
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
