The physical health of physical and health education teachers in Quebec

Teaching physical and health education (PHE) is a physically demanding profession, leading to poor physical health among teachers. Hence the importance of understanding the state of health of in-service PHE teachers, particularly in relation to physical activities, injuries, and level of pain during professional practice. To this end, an online questionnaire was sent to PHE teachers in Quebec, at the primary, secondary, and college levels. A total of 181 respondents completed the questionnaire. Descriptive analyses were carried out. The results show that most PHE teachers are role models for their active lifestyles. However, their physical health is weakened by multiple and varied injuries, occurred during personal and/or at work physical activity practice, causing, for almost half of them, discomfort or pain during professional practice.