IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i16p5750-d396521.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Effects of Carrying Police Equipment on Spatiotemporal and Kinetic Gait Parameters in First Year Police Officers

Author

Listed:
  • Mario Kasović

    (Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Zagreb, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia
    Faculty of Sports Studies, Masaryk University, 62 500 Brno, Czech Republic)

  • Lovro Štefan

    (Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Zagreb, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia)

  • Krunoslav Borovec

    (Police Academy, Police College, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia)

  • Martin Zvonař

    (Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, 62 500 Brno, Czech Republic)

  • Jan Cacek

    (Faculty of Sports Studies, Masaryk University, 62 500 Brno, Czech Republic)

Abstract

The main purpose of the study was to explore the effects of carrying police equipment on spatiotemporal and kinetic gait parameters. Two-hundred and seventy-five healthy men and women attending police academy (32% women) were randomly recruited. Gait analysis without and with a police equipment load (≈3.5 kg) was analyzed using the Zebris pressure platform. Differences and effect sizes were calculated using a Student t -test and Wilcoxon test for dependent samples and Cohen’s D statistics. In both men and women, carrying police equipment significantly increased the foot rotation (effect size 0.13–0.25), step width (0.13–0.33), step time (0.25), stride time (0.13–0.25) and peak plantar pressure beneath the forefoot (0.16–0.30), midfoot (0.15–0.32) and hindfoot (0.13–0.25) region of the foot. Significant reductions in the step length (0.12–0.25), stride length (0.14–0.23), cadence (0.15–0.28) and walking speed (0.20–0.22) were observed in both sexes. Although significant, the effect sizes were mostly trivial in men and small in women. Our study shows significant changes in the spatiotemporal and kinetic gait parameters when carrying police equipment for both men and women. Although the effect sizes are trivial to small, carrying police equipment of ≈3.5 kg may have a negative impact on gait characteristics in first-year police officers.

Suggested Citation

  • Mario Kasović & Lovro Štefan & Krunoslav Borovec & Martin Zvonař & Jan Cacek, 2020. "Effects of Carrying Police Equipment on Spatiotemporal and Kinetic Gait Parameters in First Year Police Officers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-7, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:16:p:5750-:d:396521
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/16/5750/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/16/5750/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Aaron Joseph & Amy Wiley & Robin Orr & Benjamin Schram & J. Jay Dawes, 2018. "The Impact of Load Carriage on Measures of Power and Agility in Tactical Occupations: A Critical Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-16, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ante Krolo & Barbara Gilic & Nikola Foretic & Haris Pojskic & Raouf Hammami & Miodrag Spasic & Ognjen Uljevic & Sime Versic & Damir Sekulic, 2020. "Agility Testing in Youth Football (Soccer)Players; Evaluating Reliability, Validity, and Correlates of Newly Developed Testing Protocols," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-15, January.
    2. Robin Orr & Takato Sakurai & Jordan Scott & Jason Movshovich & J. Jay Dawes & Robert Lockie & Ben Schram, 2021. "The Use of Fitness Testing to Predict Occupational Performance in Tactical Personnel: A Critical Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-15, July.
    3. Damir Sekulic & Nikola Foretic & Barbara Gilic & Michael R. Esco & Raouf Hammami & Ognjen Uljevic & Sime Versic & Miodrag Spasic, 2019. "Importance of Agility Performance in Professional Futsal Players; Reliability and Applicability of Newly Developed Testing Protocols," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-13, September.
    4. Justin J. Merrigan & Jason D. Stone & Andrew G. Thompson & W. Guy Hornsby & Joshua A. Hagen, 2020. "Monitoring Neuromuscular Performance in Military Personnel," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-26, December.
    5. Justin J. Merrigan, 2021. "Effects of Maximal Effort Running on Special Agents’ Loaded and Unloaded Drop Jump Performance and Mechanics," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-11, September.
    6. Kai Way Li & Jenn Chun Chu & Ching Chung Chen, 2019. "Strength Decrease, Perceived Physical Exertion and Endurance Time for Backpacking Tasks," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-13, April.
    7. Sally Sawyer & Ben Schram & Rodney Pope & Robin Orr, 2021. "Profiling the Injuries Sustained by Police Trainees Undergoing Initial Training: A Retrospective Cohort Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-11, July.
    8. Rhiannon Thomas & Ben Schram & Shane Irving & Jeremy Robinson & Robin Orr, 2019. "Associations between Specialist Tactical Response Police Unit Selection Success and Urban Rush, along with 2.4 km and 10 km Loaded Carriage Events," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-9, September.
    9. Robin M. Orr & Filip Kukić & Aleksandar Čvorović & Nenad Koropanovski & Radivoje Janković & Jay Dawes & Robert Lockie, 2019. "Associations between Fitness Measures and Change of Direction Speeds with and without Occupational Loads in Female Police Officers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-9, June.
    10. Michelle Perrone & Robin Orr & Wayne Hing & Nikki Milne & Rodney Pope, 2018. "The Impact of Backpack Loads on School Children: A Critical Narrative Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-25, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:16:p:5750-:d:396521. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.