Physical activity in wheelchair-using youth with spina bifida: an observational study.
Manon A T Bloemen, Rita J G van den Berg-Emons, Matthijs Tuijt and 5 others
PMID 30642361WHAT IT FOUND
Wheelchair-using children with spina bifida spent 90% of school-day wear time sitting or lying, less active than peers, and only 19% met activity guidelines.
Key findings
01Wheelchair-using youth with spina bifida spent 90% of wear time sitting or lying on a school day and 96% on a weekend day, a significant difference.
02On a school day, wheelchair-using youth spent 94% of 24 hours sedentary and 5% physically active, compared with 78% and 12% in typically developing peers.
03Only 19% met physical activity guidelines on a school day and 8% on a weekend day.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
About 35% of data were missing, mostly because devices did not function properly, with some loss due to skin irritation, short wear time, holiday, or illness. Activity-type results came from 34 participants, intensity results from 36 participants, and combined activity-intensity results from 25 participants. The peer comparison used 20 typically developing youths, a small reference group that may not represent all peers. Only two school days and one weekend day were measured, with a minimum wear time of 8 hours per day, not the longer monitoring some reviews suggest. There were no reference intensity data for the peer comparison. Multiple intensity tests were performed, so the school-day versus weekend-day intensity differences need cautious interpretation. Heart-rate intensity can be affected by stress or caffeine, which were not controlled. The study did not test any intervention, so it cannot show what increases activity. The devices were burdensome for some children and the analysis is not feasible for routine clinical use.
Declared interests
The supplied text lists non-U.S. government research support. It does not provide an author conflict-of-interest declaration.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that any intervention raised activity. This paper only measured what children did with their current devices and routines, and it did not test treatment.