Citation

Benedetti MG, Di Gioia A, Conti L, Berti L, Degli Esposti L, Tarrini G, Melchionda N, Giannini S. J. Neuroengineering Rehabil. 2009; 6(1): 47.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group - BMC)

DOI

10.1186/1743-0003-6-47

PMID

20040120

PMCID

PMC2808303

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Obesity is a major problem especially in western countries and several studies underline the importance of physical activity to enhance diet. Currently there is increasing interest in instruments for monitoring daily physical activity. The purpose of this pilot study was to appraise the qualitative and quantitative differences in physical activities and gait analysis parameters in control and obese subjects by means of an innovative tool for the monitoring of physical activity. METHODS: Twenty-six obese patients, 16 women and 10 men, aged 22 to 69 years with Body Mass Index (BMI) between 30 and 51.44 kg/m2, were compared with 15 control subjects, 4 men and 11 women, aged 24 to 69 with BMI between 18 and 25 kg/m2 during daily physical activities. The IDEEA device (Minisun, Fresno, CA), based on a wearable system of biaxial accelerometers and able to continuously record the physical activities and energy expenditure of a subject in time was used. Time spent in different physical activities such as standing, sitting, walking, lying, reclining, stepping, energy expenditure and gait parameters (velocity, stance duration etc) were measured during a 24-hour period. RESULTS: A trend toward a reduced number of steps was present in obese people, associated to reduced speed, reduced cadence and reduced rate of single and double limb support (SLS/DLS). Moreover, obese people spent significant less time stepping, less time lying during the night and more time in a sitting or reclined position. The energy expenditure during a 24-hours period was higher in the obese compared to controls. CONCLUSIONS: The study provided objective parameters to differentiate the daily motor activity of a group of obese subjects with respect to controls, even a larger population is required to confirm these findings. The device used can be of support in programming educational activities for life style modification in obese people as well as for monitoring the results of various kinds of intervention in these patients concerning weight and physical performance.

Language: en