Perceived Barriers to Leisure-Time Physical Activity Among Physically Active Individuals With Spinal Cord Injury.

Objective: To investigate barriers to leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) for physically active people with spinal cord injury (SCI).

Design: Prospective cross-sectional.

Setting: General community.

Consensus-Based Recommendations for Designing, Delivering, Evaluating, and Reporting Exercise Intervention Research Involving People Living With a Spinal Cord Injury.

Objectives: To establish recommendations for designing, delivering, evaluating, and reporting exercise intervention research to improve fitness-related outcomes in people living with spinal cord injury (PwSCI).

Design: International consensus process.

Setting: (1) An expert panel was established consisting of 9 members of the governing panel of the International Spinal Cord Society Physical Activity Special Interest Group and 9 additional scientists who authored or co-authored ≥1 exercise randomized controlled trial paper involving PwSCI.

Leisure-time physical activity motives and perceived gains for individuals with spinal cord injury.

Study Design: Longitudinal cross-sectional.

Objectives: To examine motives to, and perceived gains from, leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) in people with spinal cord injury (SCI).

Setting: Community.

The Clinical Management of Electrical Stimulation Therapies in the Rehabilitation of Individuals with Spinal Cord Injuries.

People with spinal cord injuries (SCIs) often have trouble remaining active because of paralysis. In the past, exercise recommendations focused on the non-paralyzed muscles in the arms, which provides limited benefits. However, recent studies show that electrical stimulation can help engage the paralyzed extremities, expanding the available muscle mass for exercise.

Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback in Adults with a Spinal Cord Injury: A Laboratory Framework and Case Series.

Heart rate variability biofeedback (HRV-F) is a neurocardiac self-regulation therapy that aims to regulate cardiac autonomic nervous system activity and improve cardiac balance. Despite benefits in various clinical populations, no study has reported the effects of HRV-F in adults with a spinal cord injury (SCI). This article provides an overview of a neuropsychophysiological laboratory framework and reports the impact of an HRV-F training program on two adults with chronic SCI (T1 AIS A and T3 AIS C) with different degrees of remaining cardiac autonomic function.

Activity-Based Therapy for Mobility, Function and Quality of Life after Spinal Cord Injuries-A Mixed-Methods Case Series.

(1) Background: Despite inconclusive evidence on the benefits of activity-based therapies (ABTs) in people with spinal cord injuries, implementation has occurred in clinics worldwide in response to consumers' requests. We explored the clinical changes and participants' perceptions from engaging in an ABT program in the community. (2) Methods: This mixed-methods study involved a pragmatic observational multiple-baseline design and an evaluation of participants' perceptions.

Effects of a combined progressive resistance training and functional electrical stimulation-evoked cycling exercise on lower limb muscle strength of individuals with incomplete spinal cord injury: A randomized controlled study.

Objectives: This study was conducted to investigate the effects of combined progressive resistance training (PRT) and functional electrical stimulation-evoked leg cycling exercise (FES-LCE) on isometric peak torque and muscle volume in individuals with incomplete spinal cord injury.

Patients And Methods: In the single-blind, randomized controlled trial performed between April 2015 and August 2016, 28 participants were randomized between two exercise interventions (FES-LCE+PRT and FES-LCE alone), and training was conducted over 12 weeks. The isometric muscle peak torque and muscle volume for both lower limbs were measured at the baseline and after 6 and 12 weeks.

Effect of resistance training on local muscle endurance in middle-aged and older adults: A systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-regression.

Background: Local muscle endurance (LME) is a significant indicator of muscle health and function in middle-aged and older adults. However, resistance training (RT) practices which optimise performance in this population are currently unclear. This study examined: 1) the effect of RT on LME; and 2) the impact of acute resistance exercise program variables on LME in middle-aged and older adults.

Leisure-Time Physical Activity in People With Spinal Cord Injury-Predictors of Exercise Guideline Adherence.

This study described leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) for people in Australia with spinal cord injury (SCI) and whether certain sociodemographic and psychosocial variables might be associated with LTPA uptake and guidelines adherence. The Physical Activity Scale for Individuals with a Physical Disability was used to measure the intensity and volume of LTPA of 1,579 individuals with SCI. Summary statistics were calculated for LTPA guidelines adherence.

Mechanomyography and tissue oxygen saturation during electrically-evoked wrist extensor fatigue in people with tetraplegia.

Background: Repetitive electrically-evoked muscle contractions lead to the early onset of muscle fatigue. This study assessed the relationship between muscle mechanomyography (%RMS-MMG) and tissue oxygen saturation (%TSI) in extensor carpi radialis (ECR) during electrically-evoked fatiguing exercise in individuals with tetraplegia.

Methods: Skin-surface mechanomyography (MMG) and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) sensors were placed on the ECR of seven individuals with tetraplegia.

Exercise Intolerance, Benefits, and Prescription for People Living With a Fontan Circulation: The Fontan Fitness Intervention Trial (F-FIT)-Rationale and Design.

Despite developments in surgical techniques and medical care, people with a Fontan circulation still experience long-term complications; non-invasive therapies to optimize the circulation have not been established. Exercise intolerance affects the majority of the population and is associated with worse prognosis. Historically, people living with a Fontan circulation were advised to avoid physical activity, but a small number of heterogenous, predominantly uncontrolled studies have shown that exercise training is safe-and for unique reasons, may even be of heightened importance in the setting of Fontan physiology.

The "Super-Fontan" Phenotype: Characterizing Factors Associated With High Physical Performance.

People with a Fontan circulation usually have moderately impaired exercise performance, although a subset have high physical performance ("Super-Fontan"), which may represent a low-risk phenotype. People with a "Super-Fontan" phenotype were defined as achieving normal exercise performance [≥80% predicted peak oxygen uptake (VO) and work rate] during cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) and were identified from the Australian and New Zealand Fontan Registry. A Fontan control group that included people with impaired exercise performance (<80% predicted VO or work rate) was also identified based on a 1:3 allocation ratio.

Benefits and interval training in individuals with spinal cord injury: A thematic review.

Background: Arm crank ergometry (ACE), functional electrical stimulation leg cycling exercise (FES-LCE), and the combination of the two (FES hybrid exercise) have all been used as activities to help improve the fitness-related health of individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). More recently, high-intensity interval training (HIIT) has become popular in the non-disabled community due to its ability to produce greater aerobic fitness benefits or equivalent benefits with reduced time commitment.

Objective: This thematic review of the literature sought to determine the potential benefits and practicality of using ACE, FES-LCE, and FES hybrid exercise in an interval training format for individuals with SCI.

Assessing physical activity and health-related quality of life in individuals with spinal cord injury: a national survey in Thailand.

Purpose: This study sought to; (i) investigate the proportion of Thai individuals with spinal cord injury (Thai-SCI) who met SCI-specific physical activity (PA) guidelines, (ii) describe PA and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of Thai-SCI across different sociodemographic strata, and, (iii) measure the variance in HRQOL associated with the intensity and volume of leisure-time physical activities (LTPA).

Methods: Two surveys, measuring PA and HRQOL, were used in this study. Descriptive analysis, parametric and non-parametric tests for comparing two or more groups were used to analyse the data.

A neuro-cardiac self-regulation therapy to improve autonomic and neural function after SCI: a randomized controlled trial protocol.

Background: Spinal cord injury (SCI) is associated with autonomic imbalance and significant secondary conditions, including cardiac and brain dysfunction that adversely impact health and wellbeing. This study will investigate the effectiveness (intention-to-treat) of a neuro-cardiac self-regulation therapy to improve autonomic and neural/brain activity in adults with SCI living in the community.

Methods: A two-arm parallel, randomised controlled trial in which adults with SCI living in the community post-rehabilitation will be randomly assigned to a treatment or control group.

Physical activity recall assessment for people with spinal cord injury: Thai translation and cross-cultural adaptation.

Purpose: This research sought to translate and culturally adapt the content of the original Physical Activity Recall Assessment for People with Spinal Cord Injury (PARA-SCI) into the Thai language and to assess its inter- and intra-rater reliability.

Methods: This study was divided into two parts; (i) translation and cross-cultural adaptation, using a six-step guideline-based translation-validation process and (ii) reliability assessment of the translated survey tool using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs), Bland-Altman plots and one-way ANOVA analyses.

Results: The Thai-PARA-SCI was successfully developed.