Spotlight on Intensive Care Unit Cycling for Bike Month
When we think of Bike Month we think of the great outdoors, cycling in spin class or maybe even the stationary bike at the gym. Seldom does the Intensive Care Unit at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton come to mind, but for Dr. Michelle Kho, the physiotherapists, and the ICU team at St. Joe’s this is the first place they think of.
Patients in the ICU often suffer from leg weakness after being discharged, which stems from bed rest in the hospital as just 10 days in the ICU reduces muscle size by 18%. Many patients experience severe weakness that impairs their quality of life after leaving the hospital, and just over half of patients return to work 1 year after their ICU stay. Dr. Kho, a physiotherapist, is incorporating early exercise in her research to help improve quality of life for patients once they leave the ICU.
After an admission to the ICU, patients can develop important muscle weakness, which can last up to five years after the ICU. “We know that gentle exercise, started as early as possible while patients are in the ICU, will help them function better at hospital discharge,” explains Dr. Kho. “We are studying whether biking, starting as early as possible in a patient’s ICU stay, will help them recover faster from their critical illness and are delighted to have this cutting edge technology as a physiotherapy tool for our patients.”
Dr. Kho is leading the CYCLE research program, which studies whether early in-bed cycling in the ICU improves patients’ quality of life. Her research has resulted in St. Joe’s ICU being the first hospital in Canada to use the RT-300 supine bicycle as part of physiotherapy to reduce leg weakness in ICU patients. She recently started the CYCLE Pilot study at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, and will expand her research into Hamilton Health Sciences Juravinski and General ICUs, and other hospitals across Canada.
The in-bed cycle rolls right up to a patient’s bed and can either move the patient’s legs or the patient can move the bike pedals themselves. The idea is to begin rehab for patients while they are in the ICU, even if they are on life support.
Dr. Kho is a clinician scientist in the Physiotherapy department at St. Joe’s and an Assistant Professor in the School of Rehabilitation Science at McMaster University. She holds a Canada Research Chair in Critical Care Rehabilitation and Knowledge Translation. The CYCLE research program is supported by the Canadian Critical Care Trials Group and funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Canada Foundation for Innovation, Ontario Research Fund Research Infrastructure Program, Technology Evaluation in the Elderly Network, and Canadian Respiratory Research Network Emerging Research Leaders Initiative.
Pictured below: RT-300 supine bicycle