Additional Saturday allied health services increase habitual physical activity among patients receiving inpatient rehabilitation for lower limb orthopedic conditions: a randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE

To determine whether adults with lower limb orthopedic conditions who received additional weekend physical therapy (PT) and occupational therapy (OT) demonstrated increased habitual physical activity.

DESIGN

Randomized controlled trial.

SETTING

Inpatient rehabilitation center.

PARTICIPANTS

Adults (N=105, 72 women; mean age ± SD, 74±12y) admitted with a lower limb orthopedic condition, cognitively alert and able to walk.

INTERVENTION: The control group received PT and OT Monday to Friday; in addition, the experimental group also received a full Saturday PT and OT service. Participants wore an activity monitor for 7 days.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Daily steps and daily upright time (hours).

RESULTS

Overall, participants took a mean of 589±640 steps per day and spent a mean of 1.2±0.9 hours upright per day. Experimental group participants took more than twice as many steps (mean difference, 428 steps; 95% confidence interval [CI], 184-673) and spent 50%±20% more time upright (mean difference, 0.5h; 95% CI, 0.1-0.9) than control group participants on Saturdays. In the days after additional therapy, experimental group participants took 63%±28% more steps (mean difference, 283 steps; 95% CI, 34-532) and spent 40%±17% more time upright (mean difference, 0.4h; 95% CI, 0.1-0.8) per day than participants in the control group.

CONCLUSIONS

Providing additional rehabilitation services on the weekend increased habitual activity, but patients with lower limb orthopedic conditions admitted to rehabilitation remained relatively inactive even with additional therapy.