New exercise guidelines for adults with spinal cord injury (SCI) have been published [1]. There are important differences between them and the recently published Exercise and Sports Science Australia (ESSA) Position Statement on exercise and SCI authored by ST, EB, TG, DT, CP and YV [2] including:

  • ESSA recommends a single exercise prescription that will confer good health, while the New Guidelines (NG) recommend two different prescriptions: one to achieve fitness benefits and a separate one to achieve cardiometabolic health benefits;

  • the volume of aerobic exercise recommended by ESSA is 150 min of moderate-intensity exercise (MIE)/wk, considerably larger than the NG, which recommend at least 40 min of MIE/wk (fitness benefits) or at least 90 min of MIE/wk (cardiometabolic health benefit);

  • the NG recommendations are presented as “minimum thresholds”, implying that the sub-threshold volumes will not confer fitness/health benefits. In contrast, ESSA recognises that many “Beginning Clients” will initially be unable to safely meet the recommended volume and these clients will derive benefit from very small, progressive increases in exercise volume (e.g. 5 min/day).

ESSA recommends a single exercise prescription that will confer good health, while the New Guidelines (NG) recommend two different prescriptions: one to achieve fitness benefits and a separate one to achieve cardiometabolic health benefits;

Log in or create a free account to read this content

Gain free access to this article, as well as selected content from this journal and more on nature.com

Access through your institution

or

Sign in or create an account
Continue with Google
Continue with ORCiD