Parkrun as self-managed cardiac rehabilitation: secondary analysis of a cross-sectional survey of parkrun in the UK
Objectives Cardiac rehabilitation following a cardiovascular disease (CVD)-related illness has been shown to reduce the risk of heart attack and hospital admission. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends 3–5 days per week of moderate to vigorous exercise. Despite this, only 38% of those...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMJ Publishing Group
2023-11-01
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| Series: | Open Heart |
| Online Access: | https://openheart.bmj.com/content/10/2/e002355.full |
| _version_ | 1797367006159175680 |
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| author | Helen Quirk Thomas W Johnson Steve Haake Jessica Bourne Alice Bullas |
| author_facet | Helen Quirk Thomas W Johnson Steve Haake Jessica Bourne Alice Bullas |
| author_sort | Helen Quirk |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Objectives Cardiac rehabilitation following a cardiovascular disease (CVD)-related illness has been shown to reduce the risk of heart attack and hospital admission. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends 3–5 days per week of moderate to vigorous exercise. Despite this, only 38% of those eligible complete rehabilitation programmes. Parkrun organises free, weekly, timed, 5 km running or walking events. The aim of this study was to investigate whether parkrun can support self-managed cardiac rehabilitation.Methods We undertook a secondary analysis of a survey of UK parkrunners, comparing responses of those reporting no health conditions (n=53 967) with those with one or more CVD-related conditions (n=404). Thematic analysis was used to analyse 53 open-ended text comments from the latter.Results Four hundred and four respondents (0.7% of the total) reported CVD-related conditions with the largest proportions among those walking the event (24% of male participants and 5% of female participants). For those doing <3 days per week of physical activity at registration, 47% increased activity to ≥3 days per week. Among those with CVD-related conditions, participation in parkrun led to perceived improvements in fitness (81% of participants), physical health (80% or participants) and happiness (74% of participants). Two thirds reported improvements to their ability to manage their condition(s) and half to their lifestyle choices. Analysis of 53 open-text comments revealed that those with CVD-related conditions used parkrun to monitor their condition and were motivated by encouragement from the parkrun community. Enjoyment and fun were important for engagement, although some individuals were dispirited by poor performance due to their conditions.Conclusions Individuals with CVD-related conditions used parkrun to self-manage their rehabilitation; this applied to those attending parkrun following disease onset as well as those engaged with parkrun prior to their condition. Parkrun, or events with similar characteristics, could support self-managed cardiac rehabilitation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T17:12:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4a97a3b2bf0547e097f4a52761cad272 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2053-3624 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T17:12:43Z |
| publishDate | 2023-11-01 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Open Heart |
| spelling | doaj.art-4a97a3b2bf0547e097f4a52761cad2722024-01-03T19:45:07ZengBMJ Publishing GroupOpen Heart2053-36242023-11-0110210.1136/openhrt-2023-002355Parkrun as self-managed cardiac rehabilitation: secondary analysis of a cross-sectional survey of parkrun in the UKHelen Quirk0Thomas W Johnson1Steve Haake2Jessica Bourne3Alice Bullas4School of Health and Related Research, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UKDepartment of Cardiology, Bristol Heart Institute, Bristol, UKAdvanced Wellbeing Research Centre, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UKSchool of Policy Studies, Department of Exercise Nutrition and Health Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UKAdvanced Wellbeing Research Centre, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UKObjectives Cardiac rehabilitation following a cardiovascular disease (CVD)-related illness has been shown to reduce the risk of heart attack and hospital admission. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends 3–5 days per week of moderate to vigorous exercise. Despite this, only 38% of those eligible complete rehabilitation programmes. Parkrun organises free, weekly, timed, 5 km running or walking events. The aim of this study was to investigate whether parkrun can support self-managed cardiac rehabilitation.Methods We undertook a secondary analysis of a survey of UK parkrunners, comparing responses of those reporting no health conditions (n=53 967) with those with one or more CVD-related conditions (n=404). Thematic analysis was used to analyse 53 open-ended text comments from the latter.Results Four hundred and four respondents (0.7% of the total) reported CVD-related conditions with the largest proportions among those walking the event (24% of male participants and 5% of female participants). For those doing <3 days per week of physical activity at registration, 47% increased activity to ≥3 days per week. Among those with CVD-related conditions, participation in parkrun led to perceived improvements in fitness (81% of participants), physical health (80% or participants) and happiness (74% of participants). Two thirds reported improvements to their ability to manage their condition(s) and half to their lifestyle choices. Analysis of 53 open-text comments revealed that those with CVD-related conditions used parkrun to monitor their condition and were motivated by encouragement from the parkrun community. Enjoyment and fun were important for engagement, although some individuals were dispirited by poor performance due to their conditions.Conclusions Individuals with CVD-related conditions used parkrun to self-manage their rehabilitation; this applied to those attending parkrun following disease onset as well as those engaged with parkrun prior to their condition. Parkrun, or events with similar characteristics, could support self-managed cardiac rehabilitation.https://openheart.bmj.com/content/10/2/e002355.full |
| spellingShingle | Helen Quirk Thomas W Johnson Steve Haake Jessica Bourne Alice Bullas Parkrun as self-managed cardiac rehabilitation: secondary analysis of a cross-sectional survey of parkrun in the UK Open Heart |
| title | Parkrun as self-managed cardiac rehabilitation: secondary analysis of a cross-sectional survey of parkrun in the UK |
| title_full | Parkrun as self-managed cardiac rehabilitation: secondary analysis of a cross-sectional survey of parkrun in the UK |
| title_fullStr | Parkrun as self-managed cardiac rehabilitation: secondary analysis of a cross-sectional survey of parkrun in the UK |
| title_full_unstemmed | Parkrun as self-managed cardiac rehabilitation: secondary analysis of a cross-sectional survey of parkrun in the UK |
| title_short | Parkrun as self-managed cardiac rehabilitation: secondary analysis of a cross-sectional survey of parkrun in the UK |
| title_sort | parkrun as self managed cardiac rehabilitation secondary analysis of a cross sectional survey of parkrun in the uk |
| url | https://openheart.bmj.com/content/10/2/e002355.full |
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