An innovative cycling exergame to promote cardiovascular fitness in youth with cerebral palsy

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the effects of an internet-platform exergame cycling programme on cardiovascular fitness of youth with cerebral palsy (CP). Methods: In this pilot prospective case series, eight youth with bilateral spastic CP, Gross Motor Functional Classification System (GMFCS) level III, completed a six-week exergame programme. Outcomes were obtained at baseline and post-intervention. The primary outcome measure was the GMFCS III-specific shuttle run test (SRT-III). Secondary outcomes included health-related quality of life (HQL) as measured by the KIDSCREEN-52 questionnaire, six-minute walk test, Wingate arm cranking test and anthropomorphic measurements. Results: There were significant improvements in the SRT-III (t = −2.5, p = 0.04, d = 0.88) post-intervention. There were no significant changes in secondary outcomes. Conclusion: An exergame cycling programme may lead to improvement in cardiovascular fitness in youth with CP. This study was limited by small sample size and lack of a comparison group. Future research is warranted.

• Cardiovascular fitness
• cerebral palsy
• health-related quality of life
• interactive computer play
• virtual reality

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the participants who donated their time to participate in this study.

Declaration of interest

This study was jointly funded by NeuroDevNet and GRAND, Networks of Centres of Excellence of Canada. The funders had no involvement in study design, data collection, data analysis, manuscript preparation and/or publication decisions.