The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of hippotherapy (therapy with horses) on posture and body function among children with cerebral palsy. A case–control study included forty-five children aged 6–12 years, classified as Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) level I or II, with spastic diplegia or hemiplegia. The participants were randomly divided into three groups: study I (n = 15), study II (n = 15) and control (n = 15). The children from the study groups attended 30min hippotherapy sessions for 12 consecutive weeks, twice (study group I) or once (study group II) a week. The Sitting Assessment Scale (SAS) was used. A comparison of SAS showed an improvement in almost all the assessed categories among the children who participated in hippotherapy. In study group I, statistically significant differences were noted in the assessment of head position control, arm function (in both cases, p = 0.012) and trunk control (p = 0.005) and in study group II in the assessment of trunk control (p = 0.028). Hippotherapy has a positive influence on the body posture and function of individual body parts in a sitting position among children with cerebral palsy.

Background: The problem of spending most of the day in a sitting position concerns all people, regardless of their age. Unfortunately, this trend is more and more often observed among young people.The aim of the study was to assess self-reported physical activity and time spent sitting among students of different fields of health related faculty.Methods: The study group included 216 students (22.3 ± 1.8 years of age) of the Medical University of Lodz: physiotherapy students (n = 101), pharmacy students (n = 73), and dietetics students (n = 42). The time spent sitting and physical activity level were assessed based on the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-long version.Results: The time spent sitting among health related faculty students was on average more than 46 h a week (2781.8 ± 1238.5 MET-minutes/week). Regarding all the students the pharmacy students spent most time sitting (3086.0 ± 1032.1 MET-minutes/week), while the dietetics students spent the least (2215.7 ± 1230.1 MET-minutes/week). Taking into account the physical activity level almost 65% of all the students were in a high category (mainly physiotherapy students). Only 1.4% of all the surveyed students were classified as the low physical activity category. Statistical analysis showed no significant differences (P = 0.6880) between the time spent sitting and level of physical activity among all students.Conclusions: Students of medical universities spend too much hours on sitting, mostly 5–8 h a day. Despite this, they undertake various activities due to which their level of physical activity is moderate or even high. Therefore, it cannot be unequivocally stated that there is a relationship between the time spent sitting and physical activity level.

Herbal supplements rich in phenolic compounds are evidenced to have a protective effect against cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, they are suggested to be included in diets for people with hypertension (HT). HT is a global health problem and is estimated to affect billions of people until the end of 2025. For this reason, every possible and effective solution preventing HT should be considered. The aim was to perform an updated meta-analysis and review of recently published studies to evaluate the effect of selected herbal supplements on blood pressure reduction. We searched the PubMed database with specified selection criteria, analysing the RCT studies from 2011 to 2021. A total of 31 studies were included in the analysis, and the meta-analysis was conducted on the data from 16 of them. The general effect size of all the supplements via placebo was d = 1.45, p < 0.05 for systolic blood pressure (SBP) and d = 0.31, p < 0.05 for diastolic blood pressure (DBP). The meta-analysis and review of the literature demonstrated that herbal supplements, such as resveratrol, cherry juice, beetroot juice, bergamot extracts, barberry, and pycnogenol, can be effective in blood pressure reduction and cardiovascular prevention, but attention should be paid to their appropriate dosage due to the possibility of side effects from the digestive system.

From year to year, practicing various sports by amateur athletes is becoming more and more popular. One of such sports is road cycling. To achieve very good sports performance athletes should pay attention not only to physical activity but also to proper nutrition and hydration of the body. The aim of the study was to assess amateur cyclists' dietary habits, especially nutrition and hydration, including assessment of the regularity of eating meals, type of consuming products and fluid intake preferences. The study recruited 41 men aged 23-75 years (43.76 +/- 13.25) participating in amateur race road cycling. To obtain information about nutrition and hydration, an original questionnaire was used. Out of all participants, 65.9% declared that they pay attention to their diet, and as many as 75.6% indicated that they eat meals regularly. The vast majority (43.9%) of the cyclists declared consuming four meals a day. Most of the cyclists consumed meat products several times a week-73.2% and dairy products-43.9%. The participants most often chose only one portion of fruit (41.5%) and vegetables (31.7%) during the day. The vast majority of cyclists consumed 3 L of fluids on a training day-51.2%. It turned out that all of the athletes hydrated during training: before it was 68.3% and after training-92.7%. We conclude that the amateur cyclists pay a lot of attention to their nutrition and hydration. During the day, most athletes eat an appropriate amount of meals on a regular basis and drink the right amount of fluids. However, eating of dairy, fruits and vegetables, or hydrating before exercising is insufficient.

Background: The problem of spending most of the day in a sitting position concerns all people, regardless of their age. Unfortunately, this trend is more and more often observed among young people. The aim of the study was to assess self-reported physical activity and time spent sitting among students of different fields of health related faculty.Methods: The study group included 216 students (22.3±1.8 years of age) of the Medical University of Lodz: physiotherapy students (n=101), pharmacy students (n=73), and dietetics students (n=42). The time spent sitting and physical activity level were assessed based on the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-long version. Results: The time spent sitting among health related faculty students was on average more than 46 hours a week (2781.8±1238.5 MET-minutes/week). Regarding all the students the pharmacy students spent most time sitting (3086.0±1032.1 MET-minutes/week), while the dietetics students spent the least (2215.7±1230.1 MET-minutes/week). Taking into account the physical activity level almost 65% of all the students were in a high category (mainly physiotherapy students). Only 1.4% of all the surveyed students were classified as the low physical activity category. Statistical analysis showed no significant differences ( P = 0.6880) between the time spent sitting and level of physical activity among all students.Conclusions: Students of medical universities spend too much hours on sitting, mostly 5-8 hours a day. Despite this, they undertake various activities due to which their level of physical activity is moderate or even high. Therefore, it cannot be unequivocally stated that there is a relationship between the time spent sitting and physical activity level.