Effects of physical activity and sitting on health outcomes in adults with whiplash associated disorders

Background In spite of known detrimental effects of physical inactivity and sitting, little is known about levels of physical activity (PA) and sitting in adults with chronic whiplash associated disorders (WAD) and their effects on health outcomes.Methods This cross-sectional study compared PA and sitting levels between 258 adults with WAD and 30 healthy controls. Adults with WAD were divided into four categories based on achieving 'low' or moderate-to-vigorous PA ('MVPA') levels and sitting greater ('high sit')/less ('low sit') than 8 hours daily on the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Kruskal-Wallis tests compared health outcomes across these categories, followed by Mann-Whitney tests for pairwise comparisons.Results Adults with WAD demonstrated lower levels of PA (2151 vs. 4097 MET minutes/week, p<.001), and higher levels of sitting (343 vs. 232 min per day, p<.001) than healthy controls. Significant differences were found between all four categories on all five health outcomes (pain intensity, pain interference, disability, physical health, mental health). Low PA/High Sit had higher disability and lower physical and mental health when compared to MVPA/High Sit and MVPA/Low Sit. Low PA/Low Sit demonstrated higher pain intensity than other groups; higher pain interference and disability and lower physical and mental health when compared to MVPA/High Sit or MVPA/Low Sit.Conclusions Adults with WAD demonstrated lower levels of PA and higher levels of sitting. Achieving recommended levels of MVPA appeared to be associated with better health outcomes, regardless of sitting times. Both levels of PA and sitting need to be considered in management of WAD.