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Published on: June 16, 2016
A qualitative interview study on how people with incomplete spinal cord injury experience high-intensity walking
Malene Kolstad Sterling1, Matthijs Ferdinand Wouda2, Andreas Falck Lahelle3
1Department of Rehabilitation, Asker Municipality, Asker, Norway. sterlingmalene@gmail.com.
Study Design:
Qualitative, in-depth research interviews.
Objective:
To provide new insight into how people with a recent incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI) experience high-intensity walking exercise after discharge from subacute inpatient rehabilitation.
Setting:
Informants for this interview study participated in a previous randomized controlled trial (RCT) that was conducted at Sunnaas Rehabilitation Hospital, Norway.
Methods:
Four individual face-to-face interviews were conducted with the participants in natural setting. The interviews were analyzed through systematic text condensation and discussed in the context of experiences of bodily changes.
Results:
Four themes emerged that described positive but also challenging bodily experiences related to performing high-intensity walking exercise: "Expectations and motivation"-reasons for participating, "Challenging bodily changes"-impacts on walking ability, "Adaptation strategies"-achieving the high-intensity target level, and "Integrating exercise into a new daily life"-combining participation, new body and new life.
Conclusions:
This study indicates the importance of participating in a specific exercise program at discharge from subacute inpatient rehabilitation for ambulant people with SCI. However, high-intensity walking exercise may be too demanding to perform during this time period. The insights from the study provide new knowledge that can contribute to improving clinical rehabilitation practice.
