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Background The Feldenkrais Method (FM) is an alternative therapy used by patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary

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Fire fighting is one of the most strenuous activities in the hazardous fire service industry. Firefighters have to be physically fit in order to provide an effective and safe fire prevention to the afflicted community and as well as to themselves. The aimed of this cross-sectional study was to evaluate the physical fitness among Malaysian firefighters. The hand grip test to evaluate hand and muscular strength was measured using hand dynamometer and one-minute sit ups and one-minute push ups were conducted to measure abdominal muscle endurance. The sit and reach test was carried out to measure lower back and hamstring flexibility. VO 2 max was assessed by a 20 meter shuttle run test to measure cardiorespiratory fitness. A total of 385 subjects were participated and the results showed that 77.1% (n=297) and 84.8% (n=325) of them had very poor scores for hand grip strength and VO 2 max, respectively. For one-minute sit ups, 40.8% (n=157) of subjects scored excellent. Meanwhile, 32.7% (n=126) subjects scored average for one-minute push ups. For flexibility test, 53.2% (n=205) subjects had poor flexibilty. The results showed there were significantly difference between one-minute sit ups (p<0.001), one-minute push ups (p<0.05), flexibility (p<0.05) and VO 2 max (p<0.001) according to age. As a conclusion, this study provides representative data on physical fitness among Malaysian firefighters. These findings suggested the needs to explore the issues behind low physical fitness among Malaysian firefighters and to find ways to improve them.