Some pre- and primary schools are running barefoot programs where children spend days with barefoot. This study reviewed research on barefoot education and made some recommendations in education. One of the goals of barefoot is to develop the arch height which is difficult to measure directly. Instead, the footprint image is mainly used to estimate arch height. There are some limitations to the footprint image method, since the method estimates the vertical arch height from the horizontal footprint. However a large number of studies showed that the developed medial longitudinal arch judged by the H-line is likely to have normal arch height. In case of less developed longitudinal arch, both greater BMI due to less physical activities and developed sole muscles seen in some athletes might be valid explanations. Barefoot programs were shown to develop the medial longitudinal arch probably due to more activities of foot fingers than to the case of being tightly bound in shoes. Children with flat feet are recommended to go barefoot unless she or he is diagnosed and recommended to receive medical treatment. Increased balance ability, less occurrences of catching a cold, decreased injury cases, among others are also reported as beneficial aspects of going barefoot.

View full abstract

A super-aging society will be realized in 2020, when one in four persons will be a senior citizen. Exercise is associated with a decrease in morbidity and mortality rates, and, in this study, the results of biochemical blood tests and physical features were compared before and after intervention involving health classes, with a focus on changes in pain-related complaints. There was a total of 43 participants (17 men [ages: 67.0± 6.7] and 26 women [age: 62.9± 7.3]), in whom the results of biochemical blood tests, physical features, the number of steps taken as measured by a pedometer, and pain-related complaints written in the comment field of the training diary were compared before and after the classes. There was a significant improvement in the body weight, waist circumference, systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, and neutral fat after the intervention. The number of steps taken was significantly greater after the intervention, and the frequency of pain showed a tendency to increase during the intervention and decrease there after. It was estimated that intervention involving health classes is associated with an increase in the physical activity level, improvement in values of biochemical blood tests, and pain relief.

View full abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the usefulness of the stair-climbing power test as a field test using a standard set of stairs to assess the leg power of community-dwelling elderly subjects. This study included 24 male subjects (mean age=76±6 yr) and 23 female subjects (mean age=77±6 yr). The stair-climbing power was measured using a standard set of stairs. This study examined leg extensor power and isometric knee extension strength. The stair-climbing power correlated with the leg extensor power (r=0.683, p<0.01 and r=0.492, p<0.05 in males and females, respectively) and knee extension strength (r=0.663, p<0.01 and r=0.631, p<0.001 in males and females, respectively). This study suggests that the stair-climbing power test as a field test is a valid means for assessing the functional power levelsof the lowerextremitiesin community-dwelling elderly people.

View full abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between daily physical activity and regaining body fat after weight-loss. Methods: The subjects comprised 41 middle-aged females who participated in a 3-month exercise program from 2002 to 2003 and follow-up survey in 2006. Measures of height, body weight, percent body fat, dietary habits, and physical activity (PA) were collected before and after the program and the follow-up survey. PA was measured with accelerometer for 7 consecutive days in free-living conditions. The subjects were divided into two groups, according to the amount of change in percent body fat during after the program until the follow-up survey: one group (Regaining-G) gained more than one percent body fat, while the other (Non regaining-G) gained less than one percent. Results: A two-way (time×group) ANOVA revealed significant interactions for the number of steps per day and the time spent in light and moderate PA. The number of steps per day and the time spent in light and moderate PA showed a decrease in the follow-up period in comparison to after the program period for Regaining-G. On the other hand, there was no difference between the level of these PAs after the program period and the follow-up period for Non regaining-G. Conclusions: The time spent in light and moderate PA may affect the prevention of regaining body fat after weight-loss. This study also suggests that the number of steps per day may be a useful predictor of body fat maintenance after weight-loss.

View full abstract

We cannot see so many cases that people in the community spontaneously organize sport related activities in developing areas. The purpose of this study is to verify the contribution of the participation in sport activities to life satisfaction in such developing areas, by the examination of a case example “Siem Reap Hotel Football League (SHFL)" in Cambodia. In 2008, questionnaires were send to a total of 400 persons, 200 of whom were registered players in SHFL2008, and 200 of whom were hotel employees, aged sixteen to forty, as a control group. After verifying the characteristics of players by using dummy coding, which assigns values “1" and “0" to reflect the players and non-players, path analysis was used to examine the impacts of participation in SHFL.The findings in dicated that the participation in SHFL (as a player) had influenceon “group cohesion", “self esteem", and “physical and mentalhealth" shown as SHFL goals. Moreover, “group cohesion" and “physicaland mental health" had influence on “life satisfaction". Therefore the participation in SHFL had certain influence on the players' life satisfaction, which shows the effectiveness of sport activities in developing areas, and it can be aclue for the discussion of sport activities held in poor environments with lacking of human resources, materials or facilities as a whole.

View full abstract

The study aimed to characterize the daily physical activity, physical fitness, body composition and plasma metabolite concentration of middle-aged female mountain climbers. The subject of this study were middle-aged female mountain climbers (MC) belonging to the Japan Workers Alpine Federation (n=45, age=63.2±6.5yr), and women (control group) who did not regularly performed any exercise (n=76, age=66.0±4.8yr). In May 2011, each participant completed a physical activity questionnaire, and underwent a examination, anthropometric measurement and blood sampling.The study yielded the following four results:The MC tended to have a higher frequently than a control group. The BMI, waist circumference, and body fat percentage were significantly lower in the MC than the controlgroup.HDL cholesterol was significantly higher in the MC than the control group. The performance of 10-repetition, one-leg standing balance with eyes open and sit up was significantly higher in the MC than the control group. These results showed that habitual physical activity was need by the MC to maintain good physical fitness, body composition, and plasma metabolite concentration.

View full abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore sports needs using the lifestyle approach to gain data for the development of a new program at a community-based sports club. Based on the study results, the new program is developed. The respondents of the survey are parents, especially mothers, of the children who belong to Sessel as its members. Out of the “Questionnaire of Parents' Awareness on Sports", which is targeted at 554 respondents, mothers' data are solely extracted. As a result, data of 118 collected: a retrieval rate of 21.3%.The major findings are summarized as follows: 1) The factor analysis indicates that lifestyles of mothers of Sessel members include five factors such as “autonomy,"“innovativeness, "“spectatorship, "“communicativeness" and “wish. " 2) The result of classifying similarities of their lifestyles shows that there are three clusters, such as “the sports-fan type, "“the passive type" and “the sports-enthusiast type. " 3) As sports activities that three clusters show their hope to participate in the future, it turns out that “the sports-fan type" shows their interests in “ball games such as soccer, "“ball games that place nets such as volleyball, " and “dance. " “The passive type" shows their interests in “physical exercise" and “racket sports. " “The sports-enthusiast type" does so in “racket sports, "“physical exercise, "“ball games such as soccer, "“mountain climbing" and “others. "

View full abstract