ArticleBMJ open sport & exercise medicine2018
What is the real impact of upper limb cast immobilisation on activity-related energy expenditure in children?
Article in BMJ open sport & exercise medicine, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 4 citations in OpenAlex.
- How shoulder immobilization influences daily physical activity - an accelerometer based preliminary study.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2020Trial
- Alterations in energy expenditure and muscle performance following short-term muscle immobilization and rehabilitative exercise in mice.Physical activity and nutrition · 2025Article
- How shoulder immobilization after surgery influences daily activity - a prospective pedometer-based study.International orthopaedics · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundUpper limb fractures and subsequent cast immobilisation constitute a potential cause of reduction in childhood levels of physical activity (PA), with subsequent decrease of energy consumption. The main objective of this study was thus to quantify the decrease of activity-related energy expenditure (AEE) due to upper limb cast immobilisation.
methodsWe conducted a longitudinal matched case-control study that included 35 children and teenagers with a first episode of upper limb fracture and 35 healthy cases. PA was assessed during cast immobilisation by accelerometer. AEE was the calculated using an equation based on the total counts per day measured by accelerometers.
resultsAEE in children and teenagers with upper limb fractures was estimated to be 7.4 % lower than healthy controls. The mean difference corresponded to 1.35 kcal/kg per mean valid recorded time (750 min), that is, the waking hours. When converted in kcal per mean subjects' weight, the difference in AEE amounted 63.5 kcal/day, which corresponds approximately to 26 min of walking at a speed of 4 km/hours. In comparison with the mean AEE in healthy controls (18.2 kcal/kg), the noted decrease (1.35 kcal/kg) represents only 7.4 % of AEE.
conclusionReduction of AEE in children and teenagers with upper limb fractures may lead to a slight positive energy balance, as there is usually no compensatory reduction of energy intake. An increase of light PA has to be counselled in this situation or patients should be advised to reduce their energy intake during the immobilisation period. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level I: high-quality prospective study (all patients were enrolled at the same point in their disease with ≥80 % follow-up of enrolled patients).
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