With bathing suit season fast
approaching, just about everyone’s talking about
getting in shape. It’s one thing to talk about going
for a jog — but it’s quite another to actually
lace up the runners and hit the pavement. As anyone who’s
ever made a New Year’s resolution can attest, good
intentions just aren’t enough. Even when exercise
is absolutely crucial, as in the rehabilitation of stroke
or accident victims, most people and patients, for some
reason, are unable to stick to a regimen.
Now, however, Paul Zehr, PhD, and
Ryan Rhodes, PhD, of the University of Victoria are
hot on the trail of this mystery and are piecing together
the puzzling role of motivation in exercise and rehabilitation.
Dr Rhodes, an exercise psychologist
and behavioural medicine specialist, was studying the
use of video games to enhance motivation in sports equipment
— in one example, users had tp pedal faster on
a stationary bicycle to advance to the next level. He
was approached by rehabilitation expert Dr Paul Zehr
who asked him to combine their research interests in
order to examine the role of motivation in the efficacy
of rehabilitation therapies, as part of an ongoing study
partially funded by the Christopher Reeves Paralysis
Foundation.
“One of the issues that [Dr
Zehr] brought forward to me,” says Dr Rhodes,
“is that, although scientists can develop various
adaptation and rehabilitation devices, often the client
is not really that interested in some of these things....
Just because we do it with machinery doesn’t mean
it’s going to be very good for rehabilitation.”
LEARNING
TO WALK AGAIN
Dr Zehr’s work has focused on devices that help
with locomotor recovery training and more specifically
their impact on the nervous system.
“First of all, we’d like
to find out if these devices are controlling [body]
movements in a way that’s helpful for recovery
of walking,” he explains. “When we’ve
got that sorted out, we’d like to combine it with
motivational data that tells us about which of these
different devices people actually prefer to use.”
He notes that from a therapist’s
point of view one machine may do the job just as well
as another but that a patient may react quite differently
to these different devices. And if a patient isn’t
motivated to participate in a rehabilitation program,
their chances of a successful recovery are severely
diminished.
“We know from the whole aspect
of neuroplasticity that underlies the recovery function
after nervous system damage that you have to do the
activities,” says Dr Zehr. “If you’re
not motivated to do it, you usually aren’t quite
as involved in doing whatever it is.... It’s very
little studied.”
ENNUI
IN THE CROSSHAIRS
In Dr Rhodes’ experience, tapping into motivation
means attacking boredom.
“One of the biggest problems
in exercising and rehabilitation is that people find
it boring, particularly when they have to do it regularly,”
he acknowledges. “Going out for a walk or a run
on one day is okay, but to do it three or four times
a week can be quite boring.”
What it comes down to, say the experts,
is approaching the issue with the patient’s experience
and emotions in mind.
“Really,”
says Dr Zehr, “it’s trying to say we’d
like to respect the fact that people do have enjoyment
and motivation issues around things, even when it comes
to rehabilitation.... If there’s a good way to
put those things together, that’s what we’re
going to try to do.”
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