Physical activity and sedentary behavior in people with spinal cord injury: Mitigation strategies during COVID-19 on behalf of ACSM-EIM and HL-PIVOT

Abstract

People with spinal cord injury (SCI) face unique challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, including greater risk of poor COVID-19-related outcomes, increased social isolation, and restricted access to important services. Furthermore, COVID-19 related restrictions have decreased already low levels of physical activity (PA) in this population. Therefore, the purpose of this commentary is to: 1) address the impact of COVID-19 on PA and sedentary behavior (SB) in people with SCI; 2) provide potential SB reduction strategies to guide future research; and 3) provide recommendations to increase PA and reduce SB on behalf of the American College of Sports Medicine Exercise is Medicine (ACSM-EIM) and Healthy Living for Pandemic Event Protection (HL-PIVOT) using a social-ecological model targeting the individual-, social environment-, physical environment-, and policy-level determinants of behavior in people with SCI.