Intended effects leading to the improvement of movement analysis and therapy

After completing this lesson, you will be familiar with the elements of physical fitness assessment and tests that you can use for people with varying degrees of intellectual disabilities.  Remember that the instruction and the difficulty of the test must be adapted to the physical and cognitive abilities of a person with intellectual disabilities. Incorrect selection of tests may result in resignation or incorrect results. Maximum involvement and motivation of the examined person is also important. You should focus on assessing those parameters that are important in the daily functioning of people with intellectual disabilities. Start by taking basic anthropometric measurements; measurement of height, weight and calculation of BMI. Its value is obtained by converting the body mass quotient to the square of the body height expressed in meters (kg/m2). Then you should evaluate: coordination, balance, muscle strength and endurance, flexibility and cardiorespiratory fitness Among the recommended tests, you can choose:  

• Eurofit Special Test Battery  

explosive leg strength (standing broad jump test), arm strength (pushing a 2 kg ball test), abdominal muscle endurance (sit-up test), speed (20 meter run test), flexibility (sit and reach test), and balance (walk on a bench test) 

• Functional Reach Test 
• Single Leg Stance test 
• The 6-min walk test (6MWT) (cardiorespiratory fitness) 
• 30 s chair stand (muscle endurance) 
• five times chair stand (muscle endurance) 
• the Handgrip Test 

Remember that it is important to systematically assess progress. Control tests should always be performed under the same conditions and in the same order.