Orthopaedic rehabilitation aims to restore sufficient function to allow independent living in the community, which ideally would include

restoration of the recommended physical activity levels. What this study adds: Inpatients receiving rehabilitation for lower limb orthopaedic conditions are relatively inactive and do not meet current physical activity guidelines. Changes are required to reverse this sedentary behaviour during rehabilitation. This prospective observational study was conducted on a subgroup of participants during the AZD9291 baseline phase (ie, prior to the randomised intervention) of a randomised controlled trial evaluating the effects of additional weekend allied health services (Peiris et al 2012a). Participants underwent objective physical activity monitoring for three days and their activity levels were assessed against recommended levels of activity in several guidelines about physical INCB018424 cost activity for maintenance of health. This study took place on one ward at an inpatient rehabilitation facility with 30 rehabilitation beds servicing a metropolitan

area over a 4-month period (1 March 2011 to 30 June 2011). Patients were included if they were aged 18 years or older, were admitted for rehabilitation in the orthopaedic ward, had a lower limb orthopaedic condition (eg, hip or knee replacement, hip fracture), were able to walk (independently or with assistance), and were cognitively alert. To estimate the physical activity pattern of an adult reliably, at least three days of monitoring

is recommended (Trost et al 2005) so patients were only eligible if they had three consecutive days of weekday monitoring before the randomised intervention of the larger study began. All patients received usual medical, nursing and allied health care. Primary outcome: To determine whether physical activity guidelines were being met, activity monitor data were used to compare the level of physical activity to three physical activity guidelines: 1. 30 minutes accumulated moderate intensity physical activity per day (Pate et al 1995); Measures of moderate intensity were obtained from the these activity monitors through secondary analysis via a custommade software program using threshold values: 1. Walking cadence > 60 steps/minute. Greater than 100 steps/minute is accepted as moderate intensity (Rowe et al 2011) but at least 60 steps/minute may be beneficial to health (Tudor-Locke et al 2011) and was therefore used as a threshold for moderate intensity in this population where mobility is limited. Because normal walking is not always continuous and may include short breaks in motion (eg, when stopping to talk to someone in the corridor) these were accounted for when assessing activity bouts.