Affiliations: Spine Biomechanics Laboratories, University of
Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada | Calgary Fire Department, Calgary, AB, Canada
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Dr. Stuart McGill, Department of
Kinesiology, University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave W., Waterloo, ON, N2L
3G1 Canada. Tel.: +1 519 888 4567, ext. 36761; Fax: +1 519 746 6776; E-mail:
mcgill@uwaterloo.ca
Abstract: BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Given the possible links between movement,
fitness and injury, the goal of this study was to evaluate strength, endurance,
and hip range of motion (ROM) (i.e. fitness); movement quality; and age in a
population of firefighters. PARTICIPANTS: Male firefighters (n=282), all members of a major
Canadian city fire department, volunteered to participate in this
cross-sectional study. METHODS: Torso endurance, grip strength, pull-ups, hip ROM, movement
quality (sum of 7 movement tasks graded on a 0–3 scale), age, body mass,
height, body mass index, and hip and waist circumference were assessed in 282
Firefighters. Relationships between variables were evaluated and compared to
relevant populations (i.e. police officers, other firefighters, athletes,
students and healthy males). RESULTS: There was no relationship between age and fitness or
movement quality. Compared to other populations, our firefighter population had
poorer torso endurance but similar grip strength. Larger body mass, waist
circumference and hip width were correlated (p< 0.01) with poorer Total
Movement Score. Back extensor endurance (Biering-Sorensen test) was found to
have the strongest relationship with Total Movement Score in comparison to all
other tests. Notably, the extensor endurance and pull-ups were related to five
of nine tasks each. The magnitude of hip ROM asymmetry related only to the
stand-sit-stand movement test. In general, correlations between variables were
relatively low, suggesting that most of these variables are independent and/or
unrelated to one another. CONCLUSIONS: Movement quality is not strongly correlated with
traditionally utilized markers of fitness, nor is movement linked to age. This
would imply that training should include movement competency components
together with traditional fitness objectives.
Keywords: Hip range of motion, strength, movement quality, torso endurance, database
