Dr Christina Ekegren – How can we help people stay active in hospital and after major trauma?

Physio Foundations

Christina Ekegren is a Senior Research Fellow at the Rehabilitation, Ageing, and Independent Living (RAIL) Research Centre at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. Her research focuses on physical activity for hospitalised patients, older adults, and people recovering from traumatic injury. In this episode, we discussed Christina’s research on strategies for helping people stay physically active in hospital and after major trauma.

In this episode:

• 0:00 About this episode and welcome Christina
• 1:39 Background and interests
• 5:42 The many factors that lead to people being sedentary in hospital
• 6:30 Physical activity as a vital sign in hospital
• 7:40 Wearables and measurement as an intervention, limitations in hospitals, feasible ways to measure physical activity in hospitals
• 11:40 Why don’t patients move around in hospital. The need for shared decision-making in hospitals related to falls and physical activity
• 14:30 What is the relationship between physical activity and heath outcomes? 600 steps or 25 minutes a day of slow-paced walking per day
• 18:20 Key research papers – end PJ paralysis!
• 28:30 Foundational knowledge and skills – learning how to talk about physical activity
• 32:20 Is physical activity medicine?
• 34:30 Physical activity following major trauma
• 39:20 Final thoughts

You can read more about Christina and her research here

Christina mentioned the Multi-Process Action Control (M-PAC) Framework, an approach to physical activity behaviour promotion.

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