Kaiden Conway
Supervisor: Michael Khoury
Project: High-intensity interval training in children with congenital heart disease
"As participants continue throughout their 12 week MedBIKE™ program it is very rewarding to build a rapport and watch their self efficacy towards physical activity improve."
The MedBIKE: Improving exercise capacity in children with congenital heart disease
Individuals with congenital heart disease (CHD) have a shorter lifespan, due in part to reduced exercise capacity (fitness levels). Exercise programs for children with CHD have yielded inconsistent results and are often limited by a number of factors and barriers. For example, exercise programs have often taken place in hospitals. While this allows for live supervision, hospital-based programs are inconvenient, inaccessible – especially for more rural populations, or those who live in separate cities or provinces – and costly.
The goal of this project is to implement a home-based exercise program for 10-18-year-old children with repaired CHD to improve not only their exercise capacity but also improve physical activity and promote positive attitudes towards physical activity and exercise. The home-based program (12 weeks, 36 sessions) will be implemented using the MedBIKE a video game-linked bicycle that permits live two-way audio and visual communication (as well as heart tracing and oxygen saturation monitoring) between the child and the supervisor.
The MedBIKE™ program incorporates a high-intensity interval training (HIIT) program, involving multiple short bursts of activity separated by periods of rest. The supervisor can modify the resistance at any time according to the participant's ability. Before the intervention, participants first undergo a baseline evaluation, including an exercise test, physical activity measurements, and questionnaires about quality of life and attitudes toward physical activity. They will then be randomized to receive the MedBIKE or carry on with usual care for 12 weeks, at which point the evaluations will be repeated. Participants who did not get the MedBIKE will then receive the MedBIKE, with a third evaluation 12 weeks thereafter. Follow-up assessments will also occur six and 12 months after the MedBIKE program.
Through this study, we aim to introduce a fun, safe and effective form of exercise for children with CHD.
Kaiden Conway was supervised by Michael Khoury and her summer studentship was funded by the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation. She is enrolled in the Kinesiology program at Western University.
