Author(s): BRADLEY, E., COULSON, M., Institution: UNIVERSITY OF SUNDERLAND, Country: UNITED KINGDOM, Abstract-ID: 219

INTRODUCTION:
UK police firearms officers require a range of physical attributes to perform demanding tasks [1] and are required to wear protective equipment and carry weapons and shields which can negatively affect occupational performance [2]. Given this, it is important that officers carry out regular exercise to maintain a range of components of fitness so that they can perform their duties safely and effectively. However, they are expected to carry out their own training whilst off-duty despite lack of time being cited as a typical barrier to adopting exercise programs [3]. To date there have been no long-term exercise intervention studies on changes in fitness and wellbeing for serving UK firearms officers. The aim of the study were to evaluate the effect of a 12-week structured training program across a range of fitness and wellbeing measures.
METHODS:
23 officers completed initial physical assessments. Measures were wellbeing and injury reports, mass, height, blood pressure, heart rate, hand-grip strength, reaction, balance, FMS, push-up, sit-up, and squat reps in 1-min, 30-15 intermittent fitness test. Officers were provided with a 12-week unsupervised structured training program followed by reassessment of physical attributes. The intervention included exercises that targeted aerobic and anaerobic capacity, muscular strength and endurance, and flexibility with the advice that the principle of overload should be adopted and to complete 3 d.wk-1 10 minutes per session. Changes in physical performance and wellbeing were calculated using paired samples t-tests with significance set at p≤0.05. Effect sizes were calculated to indicate the meaningfulness of any differences and presented as Cohen’s d.
RESULTS:
The intervention produced moderate significant increases in VO2max of 1.7 ml·kg-1·min-1 (d=1.12; p<0.001), grip strength of 8 kg (d=0.89; p=0.002) and reaction of 3 strikes (d=0.73; p=0.007), while there was a small non-significant improvement in balance of 1.3 secs (d=0.25; p=0.174). The participants had a good level of muscular endurance which stayed relatively stable post intervention (Push Ups 42; Sit Ups 50; Squats 52). FMS was high for individual and total score pre and post intervention with a significant moderate increase in leg raise (d=0.58; p=0.02), asymmetry (d=0.54; p=0.028), and total (d=0.54; p=0.027). Positive scores of wellbeing were reported pre and post intervention along with a reduction in injury incidence of 0.39 per officer.
CONCLUSION:
To our knowledge, this is the first study in serving UK officers and a 12-week structured training program is effective at improving physical and fitness measures. Physical performance is crucial to enable officers to complete occupation-related tasks. The outcomes support the inclusion of a qualified strength and conditioning professional to administer progressive training programs along with a flexible approach to allow on-duty time for training purposes.
1. Dawes et al. (2017) 2. Dempsey et al. (2013) 3. Boyce et al. (2008)