Can the feedback on physical activity increase the willingness of exercising in adult stroke survivors?
Stroke is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide. The most important outcomes of post-stroke rehabilitation are: to promote the functional recovery after stroke and above all to prevent a secondary one.
Practicing a regular physical activity is one of the most important health strategy for the general population and should be applied to post-stroke patients as well. The World Health Organization recommends older adults to do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity throughout the week and for those with poor mobility to perform physical activity to enhance balance and prevent falls on 3 or more days per week and, in case their health conditions prevent them to do the recommended amount of physical activity, to stay as physically active as their abilities and conditions allow.
Nowadays there are many different commercially available, wearable activity monitors and smartphone applications for monitoring and possibly increasing physical activity levels in the people.
The aim of this Cochrane Systematic Review was to see if there are trustable evidence on their effectiveness in the post-stroke population.
Unfortunately, both the quantity and quality of the retrieved evidence were scarce, therefore the authors were not able to draw strong conclusions. It seems that the use of wearable activity monitors to provide feedback on physical activity cannot by itself increase physical activity levels in people with stroke. If we consider the complexity of the components that might change physical activity levels, further research should be focused to investigate whether activity monitors could provide added value to structured behaviour modification programmes aimed at increasing physical activity.
Practicing a regular physical activity is one of the most important health strategy for the general population and should be applied to post-stroke patients as well. The World Health Organization recommends older adults to do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity throughout the week and for those with poor mobility to perform physical activity to enhance balance and prevent falls on 3 or more days per week and, in case their health conditions prevent them to do the recommended amount of physical activity, to stay as physically active as their abilities and conditions allow.
Nowadays there are many different commercially available, wearable activity monitors and smartphone applications for monitoring and possibly increasing physical activity levels in the people.
The aim of this Cochrane Systematic Review was to see if there are trustable evidence on their effectiveness in the post-stroke population.
Unfortunately, both the quantity and quality of the retrieved evidence were scarce, therefore the authors were not able to draw strong conclusions. It seems that the use of wearable activity monitors to provide feedback on physical activity cannot by itself increase physical activity levels in people with stroke. If we consider the complexity of the components that might change physical activity levels, further research should be focused to investigate whether activity monitors could provide added value to structured behaviour modification programmes aimed at increasing physical activity.
Comment by Francesca Gimigliano