Health Promotion and Cardiovascular Risk Reduction Among People With Spinal Cord Injury

Health Promotion and Cardiovascular Risk Reduction Among People With Spinal Cord Injury: Physical Activity, Healthy Diet and Maintenance After Discharge.

This study is a controlled pragmatic implementation study in clinical practice, with a primary focus on cardiovascular risk reduction through adherence to behavioral interventions related to physical activity and healthy diet.The intervention is interdisciplinary, multimodal and patient activating and uses the existing setting and work flows at the clinic, ensuring that the patients receive education about cardiovascular risk factors, physical activity and healthy diet through a systematic approach including targeted patient education.

This clinical intervention study will investigate the effectiveness of a uniform and systematic institutional strategy incorporating targeted strategic patient education about cardiovascular risk factors, physical activity and a healthy diet lifestyle starting early in the primary rehabilitation process with 6 months of follow up compared to a historic control group. Test - retest reliability of four different VO2 peak tests and a multi sensor accelerometer respectively will be assessed as well.

Inclusion Criteria:

• All newly injured patients (within the last 12 months) with Spinal Cord Injury admitted at Clinic for Spinal Cord Injuries, Rigshospitalet.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Insufficient skills in Danish language
• Reduced mental function that prevents reading and answering the questionnaires