Effect of wearing an activity monitor on the amount of daily manual wheelchair propulsion in persons with spinal cord injury

Study design: An experimental study. Objectives: To assess the effect of reactivity related to wearing a multi-sensor activity monitor (AM) on the amount of manual wheelchair propulsion during daily life in wheelchair-bound persons with spinal cord injury (SCI). In addition, to establish the subjectively experienced burden of wearing the AM. Setting: Rehabilitation centre and home-based study. Methods: In 10 persons with SCI, during a 7-day period, the daily amount of manual wheelchair propulsion was measured by means of a rotation counter. During this period, an AM was worn for 1 day (AM day) by the participants. Experienced burden was measured by a questionnaire based on visual analogue scale scores. Results: The overall median of the number of rotations per minute was 1.38 (range 0.63-1.83). No significant difference was found in the amount of daily manual wheelchair propulsion between AM and AM days (P=0.33, median difference: -0.06 rotations per minute). Experienced burden was not different between subgroups that differed in reactivity. Conclusion: The results seem to indicate that wearing the AM of this study does not systematically influence the amount of daily manual wheelchair propulsion. Although low to moderate burden was experienced when wearing the AM, this does not seem to affect the amount of manual wheelchair propulsion.

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