Indian Journal of Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy - An International Journal

Cardio-respiratory fitness is an integral component strongly associated with various health outcomes. The professional demands of physiotherapy profession require the therapist to engage in activities which demand good amount of strength, endurance and flexibility. A reasonably high level of physical fitness is required to carry out the routine job activities of a physiotherapist. However, in curriculum and during academic years no particular attention is given to physical fitness of physiotherapy students. The aim of this cross sectional study was to evaluate the cardio-respiratory fitness of students of physiotherapy and to find out correlation between BMI and performance in 6MWT in physiotherapy students. Results of this study suggest that the physiotherapy students are having less physical and cardio-vascular fitness as compared to the normal population and it may be recommended that physical fitness of students must carry some weightage in the evaluation process during the course of studies.