Abstract
Aim: There is growing international evidence that outdoor gym equipment in parks can provide health and fitness benefits to the population. As little is known concerning the availability and usage of such equipment in the Aotearoa New Zealand setting, we aimed to study this topic further.
Methods: An internet survey identified outdoor gym equipment in parks in the 10 most populated territorial authorities (TAs). A field survey of 22 selected parks examined the actual equipment. Observational data were obtained on equipment usage in one large urban park over 3 summer months.
Results: The internet survey identified 122 parks with outdoor gym equipment in the 10 TAs. The prevalence ranged from zero (in three TAs) up to 5.6 parks per 100,000 population in Christchurch City (i.e., one such park per 18,000 people). The field survey of 22 parks indicated that all the equipment worked as intended and none was vandalised. Observations from one large urban park indicated that the eight pieces of equipment averaged 16 uses per hour overall. This was extrapolated to estimate around 18,000 episodes of use over the 3 summer months for this park. Usage of the different items of gym equipment varied sixfold (p<0.0001).
Conclusions: There is a need for further research on the relationship between outdoor gym equipment provision and population health and fitness in the New Zealand context. Nevertheless, this study provides preliminary data that such equipment can be extensively used by the public in some settings.