Mathunjwa M, Shaw I, Moran J, Sandercock GR, Brown GA, Shaw BS. Implementation of a Community-Based Mind-Body (Tae-Bo) Physical Activity Programme on Health-Related Physical Fitness in Rural Black Overweight and Obese Women with Manifest Risk Factors for Multimorbidity.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2023;
20:6463. [PMID:
37569005 PMCID:
PMC10419135 DOI:
10.3390/ijerph20156463]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2023] [Revised: 07/17/2023] [Accepted: 07/21/2023] [Indexed: 08/13/2023]
Abstract
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading cause of death globally, particularly impacting low- and middle-income countries and rural dwellers. Therefore, this programme aimed to investigate if a community-based mind-body PA programme implemented in a low-resource setting could improve health-related physical fitness outcomes. Black overweight or obese adult women (25 ± 4.7 years) with a body mass index (BMI) > 25 kg·m-2 recruited from a rural settlement in South Africa with manifest risk factors for multimorbidity were assigned to a 10-week waiting-to-treat non-exercising control group (n = 65) or a community-based mind-body programme (n = 60) consisting of 45-60 min, thrice-weekly Tae-Bo. The intervention resulted in significant (p ≤ 0.05) improvements in body weight (p = 0.043), BMI (p = 0.037), and waist (p = 0.031) and hip circumferences (p = 0.040). Flexibility was found to be significantly increased at mid- and post-programme (p = 0.033 and p = 0.025, respectively) as was static balance (mid: p = 0.022; post: p = 0.019), hand grip strength (mid: p = 0.034; post: p = 0.029), sit-up performance (mid: p = 0.021; post: p = 0.018), and cardiorespiratory endurance (mid: p = 0.017; post: p = 0.011). No significant change was found in sum of skinfolds following the programme (p = 0.057). Such a community-based mind-body programme presents an opportunity to level health inequalities and positively improve health-related physical fitness in low-resource communities irrespective of the underlying barriers to participation.
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