Leisure Time Physical Activity of People with Spinal Cord Injury: Mainly with Clubs of Spinal Cord Injury Patients in Busan-Kyeongnam, Korea

Abstract

ObjectiveTo estimate hours of leisure time physical activity (LTPA) performed by people with chronic spinal cord injury (SCI) and to identify the demographic and injury-related characteristics associated with LTPA of people with chronic SCI.MethodSeventy nine persons with SCI living in Busan and Gyongsangnam-do were recruited. They completed a self-administered questionnaire, which consisted of items about personal characteristics, type of LTPA, hours of LTPA, LTPA intensity, and LTPA satisfaction.ResultsMost participants (92.4%) did not work. The respondents reported a daily mean of 3.13 hours (±1.47) of LTPA; however, 3.8% reported no LTPA whatsoever. Years post-injury, income sources, and type of medical payment emerged as a predictors of LTPA. Years post-injury were positively correlated with amount of leisure activity. In the case of self income, LTPA was longer than for groups with different income sources (e.g.partner, parents). For patients receiving workers' compensation insurance, LTPA was longer than for patients receiving non-WC insurance. Most LTPA was done at a moderate intensity. The three most frequently reported types of LTPA were wheeling (26%), sports (19%), and stretching exercise (15%). There was overall dissatisfaction with LTPA.ConclusionDaily LTPA hours were longer than previously reported, but wheeling accounted for a large part of the activity. Intensity of activity was generally moderate. The employment rate was very low. Clearly, participating in regular LTPA for health purposes is very important to people with chronic SCI, but it is also important for them to have jobs.

Do people with spinal cord injury meet the WHO recommendations on physical activity?

“…The differences in the PA levels in the different countries may relate to different amount of services and support for PAs, however, the use of the different instruments may as well contribute to the different findings. The fact that this study population spent the most time on light and the least time on strenuous PAs differs from findings from the Canadian and Korean SCI populations, where people spent the most time on moderate-intensity PAs (Kim et al 2011;Martin Ginis et al 2010a). In our study, especially women, pedestrians using devices and people using an electric wheelchair carried out significantly fewer moderate-intensity PAs than men and people using a manual wheelchair.…”

“…Several studies investigated PA levels in people with SCI (Anneken et al 2010;Buchholz et al 2003;de Groot et al 2011;Martin Ginis et al 2010a;Rauch et al 2014;Tasiemski et al 2000 (Martin Ginis et al 2005) to 3.1 h/day on all types of leisure-time PAs in a Korean sample (using a self-developed questionnaire) (Kim et al 2011). The differences in the PA levels in the different countries may relate to different amount of services and support for PAs, however, the use of the different instruments may as well contribute to the different findings.…”

“…In general, it has been reported that PA levels in the SCI population are rather low (Anneken et al 2010;Buchholz et al 2003;Kim et al 2011;Martin Ginis et al 2010a;Rauch et al 2014;Sale et al 2012;Tasiemski et al 2000). The reported PA levels vary according to the types of activities and available information on their frequency, duration, and intensity.…”

Participation in sport in persons with spinal cord injury in Switzerland

“…20 Results are inconsistent for the impact of the severity of the lesion and the time since the onset of SCI. 7,15 In this study population, these two characteristics made no difference in PiS. The inconsistent findings suggest that these characteristics cannot be applied to explain PiS universally and that more insight is required to understand when they influence PiS.…”

“…Other studies with smaller sample sizes did not report on gender differences. [15][16][17][18][19] In the general Swiss population, gender differences in PiS disappeared almost completely in the able-bodied population. 13 Accordingly, no gender differences in PiS were observed in the study population at the time before the onset of SCI.…”