Telehealth high‑intensity interval exercise and cardiometabolic health in spinal cord injury

Individuals with SCI face even greater challenges as they have few, if any options to participate in physical activity. Three of the most frequently reported barriers to participation among people with SCI are structural (accessibility to exercise facilities, exercise equip-ment), time-related (getting dressed/undressed, unreliable transportation services), and lack of knowledgeable exercise personnel. This study will implement a long-term exercise study (16 weeks) that enhances accessibility to the SCI population by incorporating a remote telehealth exercise platform that will allow the training to take place in the participants home during a time period that is convenient for them. This project will expand on these findings and determine the effects of long-term training versus the previous short-term studies in order to provide additional evidence-based data that may potentially support the use of HIIT as a mode of exercise for participants with SCI.

• 1
  The primary purpose of this study is to integrate a 16 week home-based telehealth HIIT arm crank exer-cise training program in individuals with SCI and assess changes in cardiometabolic health.
• 2
  Therefore, we hypothesize that the utilization of a home-based telehealth HIIT program will improve cardiometabolic health markers, yield high adherence (> 75%), and will be more enjoyable in individuals with SCI.
• 3
  Advances in telehealth exercise approaches have improved the capability to prescribe home-based exer-cise programs.