1. Introduction
hand dexterity
Integrating physical activity interventions at the workplace can have positive effects on the employees’ health. This study aimed to evaluate a physical activity break with coordinative exercises (PAB) including juggling and balance tasks and to assess its effects on motor abilities. Thirty-two university employees were randomly allocated to an intervention (IG:20) or a control (CG:12) group. The IG participated two times per week for 12 weeks in a PAB with a duration of 15 to 20 min. We measured the unimanual, bimanual finger, and hand dexterity with the Purdue Pegboard Test, the reaction time with the Fall Stick Test, and the dynamic balance with the Y Balance Test. Juggling performance was assessed by measuring the time(s) of performing a three-ball-cascade. Furthermore, an evaluation of the PAB was executed. Participants in the IG improved their juggling performance after six and twelve weeks. These increases were significantly different compared to the CG. However, no other parameters changed significantly. The evaluation showed that the PAB was enjoyable and led to subjective improvements in the participants health and working routine. To conclude, PAB can lead to improvements in juggling performance, subjective health, and the working routine.Regular physical activity can have a positive impact on the health of adults. Although this is already commonly known, one in four adults does not meet the global recommendations for physical activity for health. Furthermore, there is a trend of an increasing inactivity in economically developed countries. Inactivity causes 1 to 3% of national health care costs, and higher costs can be assumed because this calculation does not include costs associated with musculoskeletal conditions and mental health [To increase physical activity [A physical activity break is an opportunity to include physical activity at the workplace [Despite these interesting findings, there are still some research gaps, e.g., if and how integrating light-intensity physical activity and breaking up sedentary time at the workplace can influence the health of adults [For this reason, the aim of the present pilot study was to evaluate a three-month web-and video-based physical activity break with coordinative exercises and assess its effects on motor abilities in young and middle-aged adults. To investigate these effects, a physical activity break was implemented as a workplace health promotion project for university employees.