Activities of daily living performed by individuals with SCI: relationships with physical fitness and leisure time physical activity

Abstract

Study Design: Cross-sectional. Objectives: To examine patterns of participation in activities of daily living (ADL) and fitness-related factors associated with these patterns among individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). Setting: Centre for Health Promotion and Rehabilitation at McMaster University, School of Kinesiology and Health Studies at Queen's University. Methods: Forty-eight participants completed the Physical Activity Recall Assessment for People with Spinal Cord Injury (PARA-SCI) and a fitness test assessing cardiovascular fitness (VO 2max and peak power output (Po)). The most commonly reported ADL were extracted from the PARA-SCI data for analysis. Results: Women tended to spend more time participating in domestic and personal care ADL than men. Compared to individuals with tetraplegia, individuals with paraplegia tended to spend more time transferring, cleaning and preparing food and less time wheeling, toileting and dressing. Fitness and participation in leisure time physical activity (LTPA) were associated with certain ADL. Participants with higher levels of fitness spent more time partaking in ADL wheeling and cleaning. Moreover, greater time spent participating in moderate-and heavy-intensity LTPA was positively correlated with time spent engaged in certain ADL. Conclusion: By identifying common ADL performed by individuals with SCI, the study findings begin to provide direction for developing strategies to optimize ADL participation. Future research should examine fitness as a way to help individuals with SCI optimize their ADL participation.

Activity and participation after spinal cord injury: State-of-the-art report

“…The PARA-SCI is an interview tool organized around recall of activities undertaken during the 3 previous days, yielding scores for cumulative activity, leisure-time activity, and lifestyle activity. The reliability and validity of the tool have been demonstrated by the developers in recent years [27][28][29]. Limitations of the PARA-SCI include limited use by investigators beyond the developers, emphasis on physical activity, exclusion of subjective appraisals, and the technical complexity of interview administration.…”

A description and estimate of very low-intensity activity and inactive awake time in community-dwelling adults with chronic spinal cord injury

“…For example, certain ADLs such as wheeling or cleaning may not be as intense or time-consuming for participants with greater function. With respect to ADLs, Hetz et al 10 found that individuals with tetraplegia reported spending twice as much time toileting and dressing when compared with people with paraplegia. As such, it is possible that participants with greater function report a similar amount of time spent in VLPA/inactivity when compared with participants with less function because they are more efficient with their ADLs and have more time to spend in LTPA, as well as VLPA/inactivity.…”

“…7 However, emerging literature concerning ADLs suggests that women spend more time on specific activities, such as preparing meals and cleaning, when compared with men. 10 Thus, the lack of association between sex and VLPA/inactivity may be due to the different types of physical activities pursued. Past research supports an association between injury severity, mode of mobility and LTPA.…”

“…9 In addition to LTPA, a few studies have explored the relationship between other forms of health and fitness and physical activity, such as activities of daily living (ADL) similar to wheeling for transportation and household chores. For example, Hetz et al 10 found that more time spent wheeling as an ADL was associated with better health and fitness. Despite the possible benefits of engaging in physically active ADL, Rimmer et al 11 noted that people with disabilities are less likely to engage in these types of unstructured physical activities throughout the day when compared with people without disabilities.…”

A more active lifestyle in persons with a recent spinal cord injury benefits physical fitness and health

“…This relation has also been studied in persons with a SCI. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11] However, these studies all used questionnaires to determine physical activity level. Although studies have shown that when using questionnaires there is a risk of overestimation and that self-reported activity level is only weakly related to objectively measured activity level.…”