Associations of muscular power and endurance to change of direction speed under two loading conditions among female police officers

Purpose: Change of direction speed (CODS) is essential for law enforcement officers during many occupational tasks, such as when pursuing a suspect. Typically, these tasks are performed while in uniform and while wearing duty equipment weighing up to an average of 10kg . It could be expected that greater strength and power would contribute to more effective task performance in loaded conditions. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between lower-body power and upper body muscular strength-endurance to a CODS task both with and without occupational load. Methods: Forty-four (n=44, age: 27.09 ±7.25 yrs., Ht: 166.48 ± 6.88 cm; Wt.: 69.92 ± 13.69 kg) female police officers performed a standing long jump (SLJ), modified push-ups (MPU), and time to complete the Illinois Agility Test both unloaded (IAT) and while wearing a 10 kg vest (IATL). Completion times for the IAT and IATL were recorded to the nearest .01 sec. Results: The results revealed significant moderate relationships between SLJ and IAT (r =-0.586, p < .001), as well as between SLJ and IATL (r =-0.567, p < .001). A low, but significant, relationship was also found between MPU and IATL (r =-377, p =.012). No significant relationship was observed between IAT and MPU (Table 1). Conclusions: Female officers with greater lower-body power and upper-body strength endurance may have an advantage when performing the IATL; however, the MPU does not appear to significantly impact in the IAT. These results suggest that as occupational load increases, especially around the trunk, greater upper-body muscular strength and endurance become more important when performing essential job tasks that require short distance sprinting and direction changes (i.e., foot pursuits, seeking cover).