Sj Pedersen

A Pilot Study of Increasing Nonpurposeful Movement Breaks at Work as a Means of Reducing Prolonged Sitting

There is a plethora of workplace physical activity interventions designed to increase purposeful movement, yet few are designed to alleviate prolonged occupational sitting time. A pilot study was conducted to test the feasibility of a workplace e-health intervention based on a passive approach to increase nonpurposeful movement as a means of reducing sitting time. The study was trialled in a professional workplace with forty-six participants (33 females and 13 males) for a period of twenty-six weeks. Participants in the first thirteen weeks received a passive prompt every 45 minutes on their computer screen reminding them to stand and engage in nonpurposeful activity throughout their workday. After thirteen weeks, the prompt was disabled, and participants were then free to voluntary engage the software. Results demonstrated that when employees were exposed to a passive prompt, as opposed to an active prompt, they were five times more likely to fully adhere to completing a movement break every hour of the workday. Based on this pilot study, we suggest that the notion that people are willing to participate in a coercive workplace e-health intervention is promising, and there is a need for further investigation.

Assessment of the Impact of a Workplace Intervention to Reduce Prolonged Occupational Sitting Time

We aim to provide a better picture of the outcomes associated with implementing a nonpurposeful, physical activity, e-health intervention in a professional workplace. There is a need for health professionals to evaluate physical-activity-based workplace health interventions with a full range of measures. Using a social ecological model as a basis, we identify a range of subjective outcomes from 15 interviews of a cross section of participants. We document that not only did participants report a range of positive outcomes across multiple systems of influence, but they experienced some negative outcomes because of disruption to work flow and a changing of work habit. We conclude that using subjective evaluations provides a comprehensive picture of the factors that influence judgments of the efficacy of a workplace health intervention.

Effect of Standing or Walking at a Workstation on Cognitive Function A Randomized Counterbalanced Trial

Objective: In the present study, we examined the effect of working while seated, while standing, or while walking on measures of short-term memory, working memory, selective and sustained attention, and information-processing speed. Background: The advent of computer-based technology has revolutionized the adult workplace, such that average adult full-time employees spend the majority of their working day seated. Prolonged sitting is associated with increasing obesity and chronic health conditions in children and adults. One possible intervention to reduce the negative health impacts of the modern office environment involves modifying the workplace to increase incidental activity and exercise during the workday. Although modifications, such as sit-stand desks, have been shown to improve physiological function, there is mixed information regarding the impact of such office modification on individual cognitive performance and thereby the efficiency of the work environment. Method: In a fully counterbalanced randomized control trial, we assessed the cognitive performance of 45 undergraduate students for up to a 1-hr period in each condition. Results: The results indicate that there is no significant change in the measures used to assess cognitive performance associated with working while seated, while standing, or while walking at low intensity. Conclusion: These results indicate that cognitive performance is not degraded with short-term use of alternate workstations.

A randomised control trial of the cognitive effects of working in a seated as opposed to a standing position in office workers

Abstract Sedentary behaviour is increasing and has been identified as a potential significant health risk, particularly for desk-based employees. The development of sit-stand workstations in the workplace is one approach to reduce sedentary behaviour. However, there is uncertainty about the effects of sit-stand workstations on cognitive functioning. A sample of 36 university staff participated in a within-subjects randomised control trial examining the effect of sitting vs. standing for one hour per day for five consecutive days on attention, information processing speed, short-term memory, working memory and task efficiency. The results of the study showed no statistically significant difference in cognitive performance or work efficiency between the sitting and standing conditions, with all effect sizes being small to very small (all ds < .2). This result suggests that the use of sit-stand workstations is not associated with a reduction in cognitive performance. Practitioner Summary: Although it has been reported that the use of sit-stand desks may help offset adverse health effects of prolonged sitting, there is scant evidence about changes in productivity. This randomised control study showed that there was no difference between sitting and standing for one hour on cognitive function or task efficiency in university staff.

The effect of an e-health intervention designed to reduce prolonged occupational sitting on mean arterial pressure

Objective: To evaluate the effect of a workplace health intervention designed to reduce prolonged occupational sitting on the mean arterial pressure (MAP) of desk-based employees. Methods: This randomized controlled trial involved an experimental group who received an e-health intervention and a control group who did not. The 13-week intervention passively prompted participants to stand and engage in short bouts of office-based physical activity by interrupting prolonged occupational sitting time periodically throughout the workday. Mean arterial pressure was measured at pretest and posttest. Results: Between pretest and posttest the experimental group significantly reduced their MAP, whereas MAP in the control group did not. Conclusions: A workplace e-health intervention designed to reduce prolonged occupational sitting was effective in decreasing MAP in desk-based employees.

Ghostman: Augmented Reality Application for Telerehabilitation and Remote Instruction of a Novel Motor Skill

This paper describes a pilot study using a prototype telerehabilitation system (Ghostman). Ghostman is a visual augmentation system designed to allow a physical therapist and patient to inhabit each others viewpoint in an augmented real-world environment. This allows the therapist to deliver instruction remotely and observe performance of a motor skill through the patients point of view. In a pilot study, we investigated the efficacy of Ghostman by using it to teach participants to use chopsticks. Participants were randomized to a single training session, receiving either Ghostman or face-to-face instructions by the same skilled instructor. Learning was assessed by measuring retention of skills at 24-hour and 7-day post instruction. As hypothesised, there were no differences in reduction of error or time to completion between participants using Ghostman compared to those receiving face-to-face instruction. These initial results in a healthy population are promising and demonstrate the potential application of this technology to patients requiring learning or relearning of motor skills as may be required following a stroke or brain injury.

Construction and validation of a survey instrument to determine the gender-related challenges faced by pre-service male primary teachers

The gender-related challenges facing males entering the primary-school teaching profession have been well documented in the academic literature over recent decades. The majority of these data have come about through qualitative reports. Whilst qualitative methods provide important perspectives into these issues, the use of valid and reliable quantitative survey tools has received less attention. This paper discusses the construction, piloting, and subsequent tests for reliability and validity involved in developing a robust survey tool to measure the gender-related challenges faced by pre-service male primary teachers during their university study and professional experience in schools. Utilizing Senocaks four stages of survey development and Rasch modelling techniques, data analysis showed high levels of validity and reliability for the survey tool.

Deliberate Laterality Practice Facilitates Sensory-Motor Processing in Developing Children.

Background: The innate ability for typically developing children to attain developmental motor milestones early in life has been a thoroughly researched area of inquiry. Nonetheless, as children grow and are required to perform more complex motor skills in order to experience success in physical activity and sport pursuits, the range of developmental abilities becomes increasingly variable. What is less known in the literature is if physical education and sport programmes deliberately designed to facilitate the motor development of these underlying abilities can improve the efficiency of purposeful movements in children. Purpose: To determine if the sensory-motor processing of lateral arm movements in children can be initiated quicker as a result of deliberate laterality practice. Participants and setting: Forty-five children (boys = 23, girls = 22), between the ages of 8 and 11 years, randomly selected from several Tasmanian (Australia) communities participated in this study. Each child participated in 1 day (∼90 min) of data collection in a laboratory at the university. Research design: A repeated measures design using upper-extremity choice reaction time (RT) tests, separated by a 30-min treatment was employed in the current study. To test the effects of deliberate laterality practice on processing speed, children were randomly assigned into contralateral ball-bouncing (CBB), ipsilateral ball-bouncing, or a control video-game group (n = 15 in each). The treatments were designed using tenants of Ericsson, Krampe, and Tesch-Romers theory of deliberate practice on expert performance, and the specificity of the training principle commonly discussed in the exercise science literature. Data collection: On an individual basis, each participant performed 27 empirical trials of goal-directed aiming movements with each arm separately, during the pretest and post-test. The stimulus-response trials occurred randomly in three different directions at the same distance from the starting position (ipsilateral, contralateral, and midline). Data analysis: A 3 (treatment group) × 2 (test) × 2 (arm) × 3 (direction) mixed design analysis of variance with repeated measures on the last three factors was used to test for significant differences, with an alpha level set at 0.05. Findings: Results revealed the CBB group experienced significantly shorter RTs in the contralateral direction during the post-test, likewise the ipsilateral group had significantly shorter RTs in the ipsilateral direction after the treatment. Further, the control group exhibited longer RTs in the contralateral direction compared to their pretest. Conclusions: Even after a short bout of deliberate laterality practice, children were able to reduce the processing speed associated with their lateral movements. Practitioners in the field may utilize these findings to foster developmental readiness in children wishing to improve their ability to perform the more complex motor skills requisite for successful sport and physical activity participation.

Lower Extremity Response Time Performance in Boys With ADHD

Objective: Children with ADHD have been labeled as “uncoordinated” and “inefficient movers”; however, a paucity of research has systematically examined “stimulant-free” motor processing in this population. Method: In the present investigation, the authors employ a cross-lateral integration task to assess the attainment of a motor milestone in a corpus of 16 adolescents with ADHD acutely removed from their daily medication routine (methylphenidate) and 19 age-matched peers. Participants perform a choice response time task involving the lower extremity to targets located at midline and in ipsilateral and contralateral space. Results/Conclusion: This investigation finds that children with ADHD have slower lower extremity reaction and movement times compared to controls, and all preadolescent children demonstrate an inhibition in processing movements that require crossing the midline of the body. (J. of Att. Dis. 2007; 10(4) 343-349)

Caution regarding exergames: a skill acquisition perspective

ABSTRACT Background: The advent of technology use in physical education is upon us. But the implications of using exergames as a substitute for traditional physical education instruction for some students raise questions. Although exergames have the potential to increase energy expenditure and motivation in some children, it is less clear whether they can provide skill acquisition benefits that are similar to those found in traditional physical education. Purpose: In a previous experiment from our laboratory, we found that deliberate practice can significantly reduce the planning time required for lateral arm movements. The purpose of this study was to determine if exergames can produce a similar effect, by reducing the processing time required for children to initiate arm movements to the contralateral and ipsilateral space. Participants and setting: Thirty children (boys = 15, girls = 15), between the ages of 7 and 12 years, participated in a pre- and post-test each taking 30 min and one 30 min treatment session in a university laboratory. Research design: A repeated measures design was employed to test the effects of deliberate laterality practice on processing speed. Children were randomly assigned (n = 10) to either a Nintendo Wii tennis contralateral movement experimental group, Nintendo Wii bowling ipsilateral movement experimental group, or handheld video-game control group. Each child participated in one 30 min treatment session. Data collection: Upper extremity choice reaction time (RT) was measured through 27 goal-directed aiming movements for each arm separately, during the pre-test and post-test. The stimulus–response trials occurred in three randomly presented directions (ipsilateral, contralateral, and midline). Data analysis: A 3 (treatment group) × 2 (age group) × 2 (test) × 3 (direction) mixed design analysis of variance with repeated measures on the last two factors was used to test for significant differences, with an alpha level set at 0.05. Findings: There were no significant treatment effects on RT across all groups indicating that a short bout of exergame training was unsuccessful in improving lateral movement processing. Conclusions: Deliberate laterality practice using exergames did not improve the motor processing speed of lateral arm movements in the same manner of traditional physical education as indicated by our previous research. Explanations as to why exergames do not exhibit the same positive transfer for skill acquisition as traditional physical education instruction are discussed within this paper.