The Spinal Cord Injury Move More (SCIMM) study Version 1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The Spinal Cord Injury Move More (SCIMM) study: benefits of breaking up prolonged sedentary time on heart disease risk in people with spinal cord injury
IRAS ID
220036
Contact name
Daniel Bailey
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Bedfordshire
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN51868437
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 10 months, 0 days
Research summary
Prolonged sedentary behaviour (e.g. sitting with low energy expenditure) increases heart disease risk regardless of time spent exercising. This may be why heart disease is the leading cause of death in people with spinal cord injury as this population is highly sedentary. Breaking up prolonged sedentary time with 2 minute walking bouts every 20 minutes in able-bodied individuals over a single day lowers blood sugar levels, which is a strong predictor of heart disease risk. Research suggests that regular short bouts of activity may be more beneficial to health than engaging in a single continuous bout of exercise.
This research will help determine if breaking up prolonged sedentary time could be effective in lowering heart disease risk in individuals with spinal cord injury. The short-term heart disease risk marker responses (post-meal blood sugar and cholesterol levels, insulin and blood pressure) will be compared over the course of a day between 3 different conditions:
(a) breaking up prolonged sedentary time with regular short activity bouts (2 minute bouts every 20 minutes) over a 7 hour day;
(b) a single continuous activity bout performed in the morning (40 minutes) followed by uninterrupted sedentary time the rest of the day; and
(c) uninterrupted prolonged sedentary time for a full day.Males aged 18-50 years with spinal cord injury below Thoracic level 6 to Sacral Level 5 (mild to low level paraplegia) can take part in the study, which will take place at the University of Bedfordshire. People will not be able to take part if they have diabetes, high blood pressure, kidney failure, liver disease, a history of heart disease, currently smoke, or are on glucose, lipid or blood pressure-lowering medication.
REC name
East of England - Cambridge South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/EE/0076
Date of REC Opinion
19 May 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion