Activity patterns in people with neurological conditions

Abstract

Walking is often impaired following a neurological insult; however, little is known how daily activity patterns are affected. The aims of this pilot study were to describe activity patterns of individuals with neurological conditions and examine the relationship between activity patterns and clinical walking tests. Twenty-two participants with neurological conditions were recruited and fitted with a StepWatch to record all steps taken over seven days. Daily activity patterns were compared to a sample of healthy adults and the relationship between clinical walking tests and activity patterns was evaluated. The activity patterns of adults with neurological conditions were similar to healthy adults with a high frequency of low numbers of steps in a row, interspersed with short rest periods. However, a greater proportion of activity bouts involved short duration activity (<30seconds) in people with neurological conditions (71% of all bouts) when compared to healthy individuals (60% of all bouts). Adults with neurological conditions had significantly different daily activity patterns (average steps, p<0.001; average minutes of activity, p<0.001; total number of activity bouts, p<0.001; variability of activity, p<0.001) to healthy adults and older adults with functional limitations. Because walking bouts are shorter and more frequent, it could be inferred adults with neurological conditions do not cover as much distance as healthy adults. The only significant correlation between clinical walking tests and activity patterns was between the Rivermead Mobility Index and average daily steps (r=.45; p<0.01). The findings from this study may assist in the development of more specific walking rehabilitation, including retraining acceleration and deceleration together with the ability to cover distances required for functional community ambulation.