Exercise intensity of active video gaming in cerebral palsy: hip- versus wrist-worn accelerometer data

ABSTRACT

Objective

The aim of this study was to compare exercise intensity of active video games (AVGs) between hip- and wrist-worn accelerometer data in cerebral palsy (CP).

Methods

Twenty children and adolescents (9.35 ± 3.71 years) with CP performed two exercise sessions, completing a standardized series of AVGs. Exercise intensity was collected, while one accelerometer was fitted to wrist and hip in separate, counterbalanced sessions.

Results

Accelerometer counts per minute and cut-points determined were significantly different between the wrist- and hip-worn outputs (p < .001). Metabolic equivalents (METs) of performing AVGs exceeded the three METs moderate intensity threshold in wrist-worn (3.12 ± 0.86) accelerometer and hip-worn data tend to underestimate intensity (1.16 ± 0.08).

Conclusions

Previous studies showed METs required to perform AVGs were related to moderate intensity (3–6 METs) in CP with mild deficits. Wrist-worn accelerometer, exceeding 3 METs, seem to have higher accuracy in measuring exercise intensity of AVGs than hip-worn.

KEYWORDS:

• accelerometer
• active video gaming
• cerebral palsy
• exercise intensity

Article Highlights

• This manuscript has not been published elsewhere and has not been submitted simultaneously for publication elsewhere.

• Medical ethical approval was obtained from the clinical research ethics committee of Istanbul Medipol University with number E-10840098-772.02-2683.

• The clinical trial registration number for this study is NCT04759677 (ClinicalTrials.gov).

• Declarations of interest: none (no conflicts of interest.)

• All authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Funda Tepe and Bağcılar Center for Disabled Children employees for helping us reach the participants in our study. This study has no funding sources. The authors have no competing interests to declare in relation to this project. This study is registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT04759677).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.