Qualitative analysis of perceived motivators and barriers to exercise in individuals with spinal cord injury enrolled in an exercise study

Study design Cross-sectional. Objectives Examine exercise perceptions of SCI individuals enrolled in an exercise trial about their: (a) reasons for enrolling, (b) barriers to exercise, and (c) solutions to address barriers. Setting World-wide web. Methods US individuals >= 18 years old with SCI completed password-protected free-response surveys (n = 144) as part of a larger internet-based intervention to promote exercise. Participants' online reporting about their motivations to exercise, barriers, and solutions to identified barriers were analyzed using an inductive thematic qualitative approach. Participants could enter up to 10 responses for each category. Results Study staff analyzed 956 participant responses across questions regarding their motivations, barriers, and solutions. Leading reasons reported for enrolling were to improve their physical health (69%), function (61%), and attitude (59%) while commonly reported barriers were time constraints (54%), lack of motivation (31%), accessibility issues (24%), and SCI-specific barriers (23%). Participant-generated solutions were scheduling exercise (47.9%) for time constraints, making exercise more fun (21.8%) to increase motivation, obtaining home exercise equipment (30.3%), and locating accessible facilities (27.3%) to resolve accessibility barriers. Solutions for SCI-specific barriers of temperature control, skin breakdown, and pain included getting adapted equipment or finding exercises they could perform independently (29.3%) and enlisting support from friends or family (24.4%). Conclusions The results offer insights about exercise motivators and barriers reported by people with SCI who enrolled in an exercise intervention program and offer insights regarding topics to address for SCI-tailored exercise programs. Further research should examine what strategies are most useful in helping people with SCI engage in exercise.