Perceptions of the barriers to and Benefits of Physical Activity Held by Active People with Acquired Spinal Cord Injury, Comparing Team and Individual Athletes.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of the barriers to, and benefits of physical activity held by active people with acquired Spinal Cord Injury comparing team and individual athletes. The study recruited eight male adults with an acquired Spinal Cord Injury who participated in physical activity (four team and four individual players). Semi-structured interviews were employed to obtain in-depth and reliable data regarding the barriers to and benefits of physical activity. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim in order for the researcher to identify key themes, patterns and categories. The results revealed that the main barriers to participating in physical activity were: access to facilities, lack of transportation, financial constraints, access to appropriate equipment and chronic pain. In addition, the benefits of participating in physical activity were identified as: increase in self confidence, motivation, increase in self-determination, positive identity, importance of role models, keeping fit and healthy and friendships. In contrast, no differences were found between team and individual players in relation to the barriers to and benefits of physical activity. As a consequence of these findings, rehabilitation needs to address encouragement of physical activity for people who have recently sustained a spinal cord injury. Therefore, there is a need for increased funding to be made available to support the spinal units in this respect. Furthermore, there is a need for greater promotion of role models to encourage people with a Spinal Cord Injury to participate in physical activity. Future research should investigate the reasons for non participation in physical activity by non-active people with a Spinal Cord Injury. Also worthy of future study is the perceptions of active women with Spinal Cord Injury regarding the barriers to and benefits of physical activity. Finally, a comparison of paraplegics and tetraplegics would also be worthy of study.