Rehabilitation Informatics -Tele-Rehabilitation Webinar

Topic: Mobile health-based physical activity intervention for individuals with spinal cord injury in the community

Presenter:
Shivayogi V. Hiremath (Shiv), PhD
Director, Personal Health Informatics and Rehabilitation Engineering (PHIRE) Lab
Temple University, Philadelphia, PA

Organized by:
Department of Diagnostic and Health Sciences, Division of Rehabilitation Sciences, College of Health Professions, University of Tennessee health Science Center, Memphis,TN.

Supported by:
National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Rehabilitation Informatics/Tele-rehabilitation: Physical activity intervention with mHealth technologies that continuously measure behavior can provide us with new insights about physical activity patterns in the community. Individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI), although generally stable in the chronic post-rehabilitation phase, are at a higher risk for secondary conditions due to SCI. Accurate, real-time measurement of physical activity using affordable and convenient wearable monitors will not only enable more research on existing behavior and relationships to health outcomes, but also allow insight on innovative just-in-time-adaptive intervention systems that may help individuals with SCI become more active in everyday life.

Background: Lack of regular physical activity is a major concern among the 300,000 individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) in the United States who are at an elevated risk of mortality due to cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and lung disease. Regular physical activity and exercise interventions have been linked with improved outcomes and healthier lifestyles among individuals with SCI. The objective of this study was to use a mobile-health (mHealth) physical activity intervention system to automatically track physical activity levels of individuals with SCI in the community and provide them with a just-in-time-adaptive intervention that uses sensor-enabled, real-time feedback to help them improve their physical activity levels.

Objectives

• Describe mHealth based physical activity intervention systems that track physical activity levels of individuals with spinal cord injury in the community.
• Describe physical activity intervention systems that provide sensor-enabled, just-in-time adaptive physical activity intervention in the community.
• Describe typical physical activity patterns of individuals with spinal cord injury in the community and some of the challenges involved with helping individuals to change those patterns.

Developed resources reported in this [publication, press release, internet site] are supported by the National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health (NIH) under cooperative agreement number UG4LM012340 with the University of Maryland, Health Sciences and Human Services Library. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.