抄録
The purpose of this study was to examine the validity of one-day recall measurements of the number of floors of stairs climbed per day (Purpose I) and the effects of increasing daily stair use on knee extensor muscle thickness and strength in young adult females (Purpose II). Purpose I: Twenty-nine young adults (12 males, 17 females) participated in this study. Spearman’s correlation coefficients between the recall measurements of the number of floors of stairs climbed per day and the stair ascent, descent and total (ascent + descent) daily step counts measured using an accelerometer with a barometer were ρ=0.59, ρ=0.51 and ρ=0.58, respectively. Purpose II: Nine young adult females without exercise habits (20.8 ± 1.2 yrs) participated in a three-month intervention study. The subjects recorded their one-day recall measurements of the number of floors of stairs climbed in a log and were given a goal of increasing this number by 10 floors per day over baseline during the intervention period. During the intervention, the subjects increased the number of floors climbed per day (9.9 ± 3.5 floors) over the baseline value (1.6 ± 1.5 floors). According to the data obtained from an accelerometer with a barometer, the subjects exhibited no stair use lasting > 1 minute per event during the intervention. After the intervention, a significant increase was observed in the right leg regarding the knee extensor muscle thickness and strength. One-day recall measurements of the number of floors of stairs climbed per day are a valid parameter for assessing the daily amount of stair use. This study also suggested that increasing the daily amount of stair use, by accumulating very short bouts of stair use, may therefore increase both the knee extensor muscle thickness and strength in young adult females.
