Kotomi Shiota

Survey report on awareness and participation behavior in disabled sports and disability understanding after Tokyo’s bid for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics

[Purpose] This study analyzes awareness and participation behavior in disabled sports and disability understanding after Tokyo’s bid for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics. [Subjects and Methods] The study conducted a cross survey on 220 registrants of an Internet research firm. It analyzed: the awareness of citizens and their behavioral changes, in the aftermath of the allocation of Olympic and Paralympic Games; subject attributes and education level; recognition of disabled sports; and the awareness and behavior of participants, with regard to disabled sports. The analysis was conducted using SPSS Ver. 21 (IBM). [Results] The subjects were not interested in watching (72.2%), participating (76.8%), or volunteering (71.8%) in disabled sports. In addition, 76.8% of the subjects exhibited no behavioral changes—such as by watching, participating, or volunteering in disabled sports—after the Olympics and Paralympics bid decision. [Conclusion] This study’s subjects had no confidence in their disability knowledge and no opportunities to interact with disabled persons. Furthermore, the bids for mega-events such as the Olympic and Paralympic Games did not lead to behavioral changes concerning disabled sports. Therefore, disability understanding should promote and deepen participation behavior in disabled sports.

Audiospatial cognitive ability of visually impaired athletes in static and dynamic spatial cognitive tasks

[Purpose] This study compares the orientation sense of sighted and visually impaired participants to provide basic research on the audiospatial cognitive ability of visually impaired athletes. [Subjects and Methods] Subjects included nine blind athletes and seven sighted subjects wearing eyeshades during static and dynamic tasks. In the static spatial cognitive task, a coin was dropped towards the right, center, or left of the subject, and the task consisted of identifying the location of the coin. In the dynamic spatial cognitive task, performed with the participant walking, an auditory stimulus was provided. In both spatial cognitive tasks, the independent variables consisted of the “blind athlete” and “sight” groups, as well as three directions; a one-way analysis of variance was performed with the mean error angle as a dependent variable using IBM SPSS Statistics. [Results] The error angles found in the rightward and leftward directions during the static task showed no significant differences, but in the dynamic task, the sight group showed a markedly greater error in the left side, indicating a right-and-left asymmetry in spatial cognition. [Conclusion] Our results suggest a highly developed skill of instantly determining the spatial orientation of auditory information in dynamic situations in blind athletes.

Promotion and support of physical activity in elderly patients on hemodialysis: a case study.

[Purpose] The aim of this study was to ascertain the optimum strategy for implementing a physical activity intervention in patients on hemodialysis by investigating the physical characteristics of elderly patients on hemodialysis, and their attitude to physical activity and level of daily activity. [Subjects] The Subject were 10 elderly patients on hemodialysis. [Methods] They wore a physical activity monitor for 1 week. Data obtained were analyzed for hemodialysis and non- hemodialysis days, and two-way analysis of variance was used to compare the number of steps and activity levels. A questionnaire was administered to investigate the stage of psychological preparedness for exercise and attitudes toward/awareness of exercise. [Results] There was no significant difference in the number of steps or exercise levels on hemodialysis and non- hemodialysis days. However, on both types of days, subjects spent long periods not engaged in any activity. Most of their activity was either inactivity or sedentary behavior. [Conclusion] Patients on hemodialysis with low physical activity levels are considered to have poor physical function and exercise tolerance. To maintain and improve the physical function of patients on hemodialysis, it will be necessary to reduce their time spent in inactive, and comprehensive care that covers psychosocial aspects should be provided to promote the proactive improvement of physical activity and their attitudes to exercise.

Influence of Aging on Postural Control in Terms of Sensory Movements

This chapter examines the influence of aging on posture control function from the viewpoint of sensory movements. Decreased ability to balance in elderly individuals has multiple contributing factors, including intrinsic physiological and musculoskeletal factors and extrinsic environmental factors. Inputs (information) to the visual, vestibular, and somatic systems that are needed to maintain balance decrease with age, as do the movement outputs and the muscle, joint, and bone strengths, which limit the overall functioning of elderly individuals. In fact, many elderly individuals experience body swaying even when they stand still. When perturbations to one of the sensory systems increases, affecting the dynamic balance, the body sway increases and the balance of elderly individuals becomes more unstable. Postural control in elderly individuals differs from that in young individuals. In addition, the visual control involved in postural control differs between young and elderly individuals. Various aging-related functional changes contribute to an individual’s loss of balance, and studying this domain is more complicated in elderly than in younger individuals. Further studies are required to elucidate the related mechanisms.