Congratulations to grant recipients

Congratulations to the 6 RHS principal investigators who were awarded grants totalling $20,577. The grant program has resulted in five external collaborations with researchers from the University of Queensland, University of Auckland, School of Physical Education of the Brazilian Army, the Brazilian Institute of Technology for Leather, Footwear and Artifacts (Ibtec) and the Portuguese Soccer Federation.

• Dr Daniel Wundersitz and UQ researcher Professor Carl Lavie are studying the link between blood coagulation and the risk of cardiac arrhythmia for endurance cyclists.

• Professor Michael Kingsley and Dr Rebecca Meiring from the University of Auckland are developing safe physical activity guidelines for people with knee and hip osteoarthrits.

• Dr Byron Perrin is researching the links between phyisical activity patterns and the risk of ulceration and amputation in people with diabetes.

• Dr Jayden Hunter  and Dr Rebecca Meiring are are studying how employer-sponsored physical activity relates to the absenteeism and presenteeism of employees during COVID-19 and beyond.

• Dr Rodrigo Rico Bini will be studying ways to improve the cycle-to-run transition in triathletes,  and liaising with international researchers to  look at ways to improve boots used by defense forces.

We look forward to sharing the outcomes of this research in future posts.

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At a recent HRI Active Individuals research theme seminar Dr Emma Zadow  presented her upcoming research into whether exercise can reduce the risk of blood clotting in COVID-19 patients. In these patients, thrombosis – excess clotting that obstructs blood flow – is a major cause of intensive care admission and death.

Emma and her colleagues are setting up a study to investigate if light intensity exercise can help reduce the risk of blood clots, particularly with people with pre-existing health issues, such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension or cardiovascular disease.

It is well known that exercise prevents blood clot formation by increasing blood flow, while the COVID-19 lockdown has resulted in an 30-50% increase in sedentary behaviour, and a COVID-19 diagnosis results in the patient being immobile and bed-bound. To study if small amounts of low intensity exercise assist people in this situation, the team will study how blood markers change as a result of very low to moderate intensity exercise, and analyse blood samples from their study participants for changes in markers related to clotting.

We look forward to sharing the results and recommendations of this research.

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At a recent HRI Active Individuals research theme seminar Dr Jayden Hunter addressed the future of workplace exercise programs in a time of COVID-19.

 Most adult Australians were not meeting Australian public health guidelines for physical activity in adults even before the COVID-19 lockdown. What has happened since and what are effective ways to improve participation and benefits from workplace exercise programs?

Jayden and his colleagues are investigating this. As a first step their study will review:

• If exercise behaviours change under COVID-19 working conditions,

• If physical activity behaviour is related to absenteeism and presenteeism, and

• the barriers and facilitators to participation in exercise for Australian and New Zealand workers.

Can workplace exercise improve health?

Then they will explore if small doses of workplace exercise interventions can improve health and increase productivity. These small breaks will mean people can take part in regular physical activity but lower perceived barriers to participation, as participants won’t need special equipment, or to spend time getting changed and showered.

Dr Hunter says that the results of the study will assist in delivering effective telehealth services to people during and after the pandemic to improve their health and wellbeing through physical activity.

“By understanding what facilitates and impairs people to exercise, we can inform researchers, employers and policymakers to undertake change to increase physical activity behaviour, and we hope this will be of particular importance for people located in rural locations who might have limited access to safe exercise opportunities and guidance.”

Complete the survey to find out more

To participate in this study please complete the survey.

We look forward to sharing the results and recommendations of this research.

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