vol. 10 núm. 2 (2020): discapacidad: actividad física, deporte y recreación como fenómeno social

The practice of regular physical activity has positive and protective effects on the health of subjects in different populations. In certain cases, the use of information and communication technologies such as virtual reality for the practice becomes necessary to establish therapeutic means that make flexible the spaces for the rehabilitation of people. This narrative literature review aims to analyze the use of virtual reality to facilitate the practice of physical activity in people with disabilities. The results include publications that mention the effects of virtual reality in the promotion of physical activity in that population. After the literature review, three sections were determined: 1. What is virtual reality, 2. Virtual reality as a method of movement rehabilitation, and 3. Virtual reality, disability, and physical activity. It was concluded that the application of virtual reality protocols can promote positive changes in physical and functional performance in population with disabilities.

The purpose of the research was to contribute to the improvement of Unipedal Postural Stability and Vertical Jump Ability through plyometrics and proprioception training in subjects with Down syndrome, autism, and cognitive impairment in Bogotá, Colombia, in 2019. The methods used were the Unipedal Postural Control Assessment (UPCA), performed under the Iowa Brace protocol, and the Vertical Jump Ability Assessment (VJAA), under the Abalakov protocol. Proprioception and plyometric training were carried out for 2 months and three weeks (11 weeks) with a frequency of 2 weekly sessions and a duration of 2 hours per session. As a result, a significant improvement was obtained in the Vjaa (r = 0.95, se (standard error) 2.81, p<0.000) and in the UPCA (R = 0.57, SE = 0.60, p<0.005). There was a change between pretests and posttests of 23.7% in favor of the Abalakov protocol and of 48.4% in favor of the Iowa Brace protocol. Both types of training (plyometric and proprioceptive) significantly improve Unipedal Postural Control Assessment and Vertical Jump Ability Assessment in subjects with Down syndrome, autism and cognitive impairment, contributing to the coordination and stability of daily mechanical gestures and the decrease of the loss of balance. Strengthening (gluteal and core) and postural correction training are recommended.

The objective of this study is to identify processes of evaluation of physical condition that have used field tests in a population with intellectual disabilities from a documentary review of studies that have been carried out between 2009 and 2019. This is a descriptive research focused on the literature review carried out in Ebsco, Embase, Pubmed, Science Direct, and Scopus databases, with the following inclusion criteria: 1) Languages: English, Spanish, and Portuguese, 2) Target populations: pediatric <18 years, 3) Type of access: free full access. Spain and United States are leaders in the production of literature about physical fitness related to health in these populations. In Latin America, Brazil leads the research in this area. Physical qualities such as cardiorespiratory fitness, muscle strength, and endurance are the most important areas of  interest. Eurofit and Brockport Battery are the most used tests to assess physical condition. The present study allows us to recognize the different existing tests and measures to assess physical fitness in a population with intellectual disabilities, to develop a prescription and design of physical exercise programs. The Eurofit and Brockport tests were the most used with the population with disabilities.

The study of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) has become relevant due to its response during sports training. Exercise itself improves ans status, but overtraining induces a state of chronic fatigue, unbalancing ANS activity. Therefore, it is necessary to find other methods to improve the sporting performance. The mental image (MI) has been shown as an effective method to improve the performance of certain motor conditions in athletes, exhibiting the activation of the ANS. MI sessions could be used as a training method; thus, the objective of this research was to identify if there is a significative activation of the ANS during and after MI sessions. The heart rate of 15 subjects was monitored during a physical session and during an MI session of a walk in two different speeds. Data was analyzed through ANOVA and it did not show significative changes in the heart rate variability during or after the MI. It’s possible that the result of this research was influenced by the mental effort, the lack of training in MI, and the time used to obtain the data to analyze the heart rate variability.

Some universities in the world conduct physical fitness tests to students during their freshmen year. One of these tests determines aerobic capacity, a component of physical fitness related to health and cardiovascular risk reduction. The purpose of the study was to determine the aerobic capacity of freshmen students at the University of Veracruz, in Mexico. Participants were 1004 students of both genders, who completed the Cooper’s test. It was found that 63.0% of the participants were at low levels of aerobic capacity; 25.6%, at medium levels; and 11.4%, at good levels. In conclusion, freshmen students showed low aerobic capacity, which will impact their physical performance if they participate in sports activities. In addition, this inadequate condition is found in men and women; thus, it is necessary to implement physical exercise strategies that impact prevention and physical health care, helping to reduce the risk of illness and the money spent on health services by the university student community.

Nowadays, motivation is one of the areas of greatest interest in high-performance sports practice; in fact, new approaches have emerged and, at the same time, questions have arisen about the reasons that lead the athlete either to increase or decrease her or his performance. The aim of this article is to summarize different factors that influence athletes’ motivation. A literature review was carried out by analyzing the literature available in PubMed, Scielo and Dialnet databases that address this topic. With a Price index of 54%, the articles reviewed show that the athlete’s state of mind is of great importance, considering the influence it has on the development of self-control and decision-making, which are fundamental elements for the achievement of proposed goals and sporting success. This work highlights the influence that different factors can have on motivation / demotivation and the fulfillment of physical-sports objectives, such as socio-affective bonds, group leadership and cohesion, coach participation, competitiveness, ego construct, effect of anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation.

Sport and its practice are part of culture. News about positive and negative aspects of sport make it particularly interesting for the general population. Sports training schools are characterized by allowing the progressive entry of children and young people to sport through stages, phases, or levels; that is to say, the child who enters the sport will go through different learning moments that will allow her or him to advance in a possible sports life. In this sense, it could be affirmed that there is a pedagogical process. But it is necessary to ask what a pedagogical process is, how it can be evidenced, and what manifestations can account for the existence of pedagogy. Based on the foregoing, this research seeks to unveil the pedagogical manifestations present in the processes of sports training schools of the Municipal Institute of Recreation and Sport of Chía, Colombia, so as to make possible the identification of a teaching-learning framework in an extracurricular educational space such as sports. The research was carried out in a natural context, with a qualitative approach methodology of descriptive-interpretative scope and hermeneuticperspective.

This article aims to describe and analyze indicators of gaming actions in table tennis athletes, based on an observational methodology with various categorization components. For this purpose, 3 matches of 4 athletes from a table tennis club were recorded by means of digital video cameras for their later visualization and analysis. The data used for each of the categories were organized, stored, and quantified in a database. It was recorded that the duration of the matches was 14.49 ± 3.86, distributed in a 0.20 ± 0.05 pause between goals and a 0.31 ± 0.06 pause between games. The total number of strokes per game was 771.67 ± 26,131. The results indicate these categorization components were reliable for the evaluation and objective description of the game actions, as well as their temporal structure for each participant. Similarly, the results showed differences in the categories of the players evaluated, which accounts for the individual performance of each athlete based on different elements that can be improved in their training.

On this occasion, the Cuerpo, Cultura y Movimiento Journal, which is part of the Faculty of Physical Culture, Sport, and Recreation of the Santo Tomás University, has taken the challenge to address one of the topics that, because of its complexity and relevance, deserves special attention: disability. This has been one of the concepts with the greatest evolutionary character, if we take as a reference the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities declared by the United Nations (un, 2006), which recognizes that the concept of disability is an evolving one and that disability results from the interaction between people with impairments and attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.