Presentation Abstract

It Takes a Village: Optimizing the Implementation and Sustainability of Physical Activity Guidelines for Wheelchair Users

Significant efforts have been made worldwide to develop evidence-based physical activity guidelines (PAGs) for people with mobility impairments from the spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis, and cerebral palsy populations, and these PAGs identify the minimum thresholds of physical activity needed to improve health-related fitness in these individuals. Supplementary resources are available that outline different ways to implement the guideline recommendations for wheelchair users and how to schedule physical activity within one’s weekly routine are available to assist with both the interpretation and implementation of the PAGs. Unfortunately, uptake of the PAGs is still very low in these populations.  We need to move away from the commonly held belief that physical activity in wheelchair users is a form of physical therapy, rather than an important lifestyle choice to improve overall health, function, and wellbeing. The risks associated with excess sedentary behavior also need to be better emphasized in these groups. The challenge now is to develop evidence-based models of implementation of the PAGs that can be successful in either urban or rural environments. Enhanced development and utilization of telehealth and/or online resources to assist with home-based exercise is necessary to fully engage the population in more isolated regions. An even greater challenge is understanding the factors that will ensure sustainability of a physically active lifestyle for wheelchair users; this is where support and buy-in from primary healthcare providers, partnerships with local YMCAs, and utilization of student volunteers from nearby universities that have undergraduate kinesiology/exercise science programs could be extremely helpful.

About Dr. Hicks

Audrey Hicks is a Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario and a Fellow of the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology. After completing a Ph.D. in Medical Sciences (focused on neuromuscular physiology), her research for the past 25 years has focused primarily on exercise rehabilitation in neurological populations. Dr. Hicks’ work is well aligned with the P2P workshop goals—she is a strong believer in the value of regular exercise for people with mobility impairments and has led randomized controlled trials of exercise in both the SCI and MS populations.  The development of evidence-based PAGs for these two populations is one of her major contributions to the field, as well as examining the role of exercise in mitigating some of the secondary health complications associated with these two conditions. In the past 10 years, she has received over a million dollars in funding as a PI and her work has been cited over 10,000 times. Dr. Hicks is the founding Director of the MacWheelers and MacMSFitt exercise programs at McMaster University and is a past President of the Canadian Society of Exercise Physiology.

Dr. Hicks did not disclose any conflicts of interest for this workshop.