Application of the YMCA step test to indiviuals with vision impairment

The aim of this study was to examine whether the YMCA step test is suitable to determine aerobic fitness in individuals with vision loss. For this purpose, 52 male individuals between the ages of 19-36 participated in the study voluntarily. 15 of the participants were goalball players (age: 27,20±4,07 years; height: 181,36±7,18 cm; body weight: 84,54±9,09 kg) and 20 of them were athletes without vision loss (age: 26,85±4,04 years; height: 176,07±6,00 cm; body weight: 77,11±7,64 kg). As a control group, 17 male sedentary individuals with visual loss (age: 27,23±5,00 years; height: 176,11±5,63 cm; body weight: 82,21±7,89 kg) were included in the study. Physical characteristics were determined and PAR-Q questionnaire was applied to determine physical activity readiness of the participants. YMCA step test was applied to assess the aerobic fitness of the participants. The differences between sport age and sport frequency among athletes with vision loss and athletes without vision loss were determined by Independent Samples t-Test. One-way ANOVA was used to determine the differences in phsical characteristics (age, height, body weight, body mass index, body fat percentage, body fat mass, fat-free mass) and physiological responces (HRmax, RPE, HRrecovery) to YMCA step test among the participants. When the F value was significant, Bonferroni multiple-comparison test was used to determine which parameter was the source of the difference. A statistically significant difference was found in the variables of height, body weight, body fat percentage, body fat mass, fat-free mass (p<0,05); no statistically significant difference was found in the variables of age and BMI (p>0,05). A statistically significant difference was found in HRmax, RPE and HRrecovery as physical responces to YMCA step test (p<0.05). In conclusion, this study showed that the YMCA step test can be used in individuals with vision loss to determine aerobic fitness.