Are adults with spinal cord injury meeting the spinal cord injury-specific physical activity guidelines? A look at a sample from a Canadian province.

STUDY DESIGN: One cross-sectional study. OBJECTIVES: To examine the extent to which a sample of adults with spinal cord injury (SCI) meet the SCI-specific physical activity guidelines and to identify potential demographic, injury and motivational characteristics related to participation. SETTING: Quebec, Canada. METHODS: A sample of 73 adults from the province of Quebec, Canada living with SCI completed the Leisure Time Physical Activity Questionnaire for People with Spinal Cord Injury to report their current frequency (sessions per week) and duration (minutes per session) in aerobic and resistance physical activity. RESULTS: Results showed that 12% of participants in this sample met the guidelines and as many as 44% reported 0 min of physical activity. Only the participants' mode of mobility and autonomous motivation for physical activity emerged as a marginal correlate of the likelihood of meeting the physical activity guidelines. CONCLUSION: Overall, physical activity participation rates among adults in this sample living with SCI remain quite low. Given the benefits of physical activity for adults with SCI, physical activity promotion efforts are needed.

An investigation of seasonal variation in leisure-time physical activity in persons with spinal cord injury.

STUDY DESIGN: Secondary cross-sectional analyses of a cohort. OBJECTIVES: To examine seasonal variation in total moderate-to-vigorous leisure-time physical activity (MV-LTPA), exercise and sport participation in a cohort of individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). SETTING: Community (Ontario, Canada). METHODS: Participants with SCI (n=695) completed telephone interviews regarding their involvement in MV-LTPA along with social cognitive predictors of MV-LTPA. Logistic regression was used to predict the impact of season on participation in MV-LTPA, exercise and sport. Hierarchical linear regression was used to examine seasonal variation in min per day of MV-LTPA in the active sub-cohort (n=342) with a specific focus on exercise (for example, wheeling), and sport (for example, sledge hockey). RESULTS: Logistic regressions revealed that season did not predict whether participants engaged in MV-LTPA, exercise or sport. Linear regressions revealed that individuals in the active sub-cohort who completed the questionnaire during the winter reported engaging in less MV-LTPA than those who were interviewed in summer (ßsummer=0.14, P<0.05). This pattern was observed for exercise (ßsummer=0.16, P<0.05; R2 change=0.018) but not for sport (ßsummer=0.076, P=0.68; R2 change=0.014). CONCLUSION: Individuals with SCI report less exercise and total LTPA accrued during the winter months; sport was found to be an exception to this case.

Exercising impressive impressions: the exercise stereotype in male targets.

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the exercise stereotype and the non-exerciser stereotype on male targets, and the moderating effects of impression motivation in 184 female and 73 male Swedish undergraduate students. The participants read a description of one of the following male targets: a typical exerciser, an active living target, an excessive exerciser, a non-exerciser, or a control target, and then rated these targets on 12 personality (e.g. lazy-hard worker, dependent-independent) and eight physical (e.g. scrawny-muscular, sick-healthy) dimensions. They also completed the Impression Motivation scale of the Self-Presentation in Exercise Questionnaire, measuring motivation to self-present as an exerciser. MANCOVAs demonstrated a significant main effect for both personality and physical attributes (P<0.05). Overall, the typical exerciser, the active living target, and the excessive targets received more positive ratings than, in particular the non-exerciser target but also the control target. The non-exerciser target was rated less favorably compared with the control target. The impression motivation of the participants moderated the exercise status/rating relationship for the physical but not the personality attributes. The results of the study are discussed in the context of gender and cultural aspects of the exercise stereotype phenomenon.