Compliance to Standard Equipment Requirements by Exercise Therapy/Fitness Outfits in The South-South Geopolitical Zone of Nigeria

The purpose of this study was to assess the compliance of exercise therapy/fitness outfits in the south-south geopolitical zone of Nigeria to standard equipment  requirements. Descriptive survey design was adopted for the conduct of the study using a sample size of 51centres/managers purposivelyselected from a population of 102 managers of fitness outfits in the six states of the south-south geopolitical zone of Nigeria. A self- developed structured questionnaire and a facility checklist were used to collect the data. Data collected were analyzed using frequency counts and percentages. The study revealed in this analysis that only treadmills (66.7%), bicycle ergometers (66.7%), dumbbells (84.3%) and weight racks (57.0%) met the benchmark minimum in more than 50% of the exercise therapy/fitness outfits surveyed in six states of the south-south geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Most of the equipment surveyed were functional with the highest non-functionality occurring in treadmill machines in 9.8% of the surveyed entrées followed by sit-up benches (5.9%) and bicycle ergometers (3.9%). In conclusion, it could bed educed from the results that there’s gross inadequacy of equipment and low level of compliance to established standard in the exercise therapy/fitness outfits evaluated in the south-south geopolitical zone of Nigeria.

Keywords: Compliance, Equipment, Exercise therapy, Fitness outfits