People with spinal cord injury engage in 12-13 hours a day of sedentary behaviour, which includes sitting. Prolonged inactivity may influence pain intensity, although no one has measured how sedentary behaviour may interact with pain experienced by people with spinal cord injury. In addition, within one short bout of sedentary behaviour, people may have reduced pain if they interrupt sitting with short bursts of vigorous exercise, sometimes known as “exercise snacks.” The goal of this research is to begin to understand how sedentary behaviours could be modified to improve quality of life for people with spinal cord injury.
In this study, people with spinal cord injury will be measured for their physical activity with watches over two weeks and they will answer multiple questionnaires over that time period to report their daily pain. Additionally, participants will visit the lab on three occasions. The first visit will include basic health and fitness tests such as metabolic rate and maximal aerobic activity tests.
Why should you participate?
People should participate in this study if they are willing to visit the UBCO laboratory in Kelowna three times in two weeks and respond to multiple questionnaires on their phone every day. In addition, participants will be offered information about their personal health and fitness. This information includes accurate weight, metabolic rate, maximal aerobic capacity, daily glucose patterns, physical activity, sedentary behaviour, sleep, possibly a novel pain management strategy. Participants will also be compensated for participation and information for that can be found below.
You may be eligible to participate in this study if you:
- Have a chronic traumatic spinal cord injury
- Have access to a phone
- Do not ambulate (primary mode of mobility in community is a wheelchair)
- Experience chronic neuropathic pain or chronic musculoskeletal pain with a score of 4 or higher on a numerical rating scale
- Are over the age of 18
- Have a stable condition and are living in community
- Have no medical contra-indications to performing a maximal exercise test
- Can tolerate a four-hour uninterrupted sitting bout in your daily wheelchair
You may not be eligible to participate if you:
- Have chronic pain with exclusively non-musculoskeletal or non-neurogenic origins
- Cannot perform upper-body exercise due to limited diaphragmatic control and/or reduced arm functioning
- Live beyond driving distance of the research site (Kelowna)
- Report drug or alcohol abuse
- Are pregnant
- Were hospitalized in the last month
- Have multiple trauma that further complicated spinal cord injury diagnosis
Time commitment: Approximately 12.5 hours of participation.
Compensation for participation: Participants who complete all study procedures will be paid $250 for participation.
This study will take place at: The UBC Okanagan Campus in Kelowna, BC.
For more information or to sign up to participate, please contact study coordinator Nathan Adams by email.
