Intervention to Improve Running and Physical Activity Participation in Children With Generalised Joint Hypermobility: A Feasibility Study.
Annie Chappell, Beverly Jepson, Gaela Kilgour
PMID 42717780WHAT IT FOUND
A 10-week running group was safe and feasible for eight children aged 10 to 15 with hypermobility.
Attendance was high and families liked it, but this paper mainly reports feasibility, not full efficacy.
Key findings
01The 10-week running intervention was safe and did not increase pain or fatigue levels in the eight included children aged 10 to 15.
02The primary outcome was goal attainment scaling; the supplied table reports 16 goals met or exceeded out of 24 during intervention, 14 during withdrawal and 11 at follow-up.
03Attendance was excellent, with four children at 100% and four at 90%, and 62% completed the home exercise programme at least twice per week.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
Only eight children were included, and all were aged 10 to 15, so the results cannot be generalised to other ages or larger groups. This paper reports feasibility domains, and full efficacy analysis is published separately, so the outcome counts here do not show whether running improved. Selection bias may have occurred because children had to have a goal to improve running, and many were known to the service, so they may have been more likely to have symptomatic hypermobility. The study period included school holidays, which may have affected children's usual activity. Home exercise adherence was variable, and families reported time and cost barriers, so delivery outside the study may be harder.
Declared interests
This study did not involve outside funding. Western Kids Health provided equipment and staff resources for the intervention, and Curtin University provided equipment for outcome measures.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as proof that the running programme improved performance or physical activity. It included eight children, mainly reports feasibility, and full efficacy analysis is published separately.