Congratulations to April Leung (Graduating MPT) and Katie MacPherson (MPT Class of 2010) who gave their podium presentations at the American College of Rheumatology/Association of Rheumatology Health Professionals (ACR/ARHP) Meeting today.
April’s abstract, Accuracy of Sensewear Mini and Actigraph GT3X Accelerometers for Differentiating Sedentary and Light Physical Activities in a Controlled Laboratory Setting, reported results comparing two commonly used accelerometers against observed standardized tasks in differentiating light versus sedentary physical activities. This is an important question for clinicians and researchers when evaluating physical activities in people with chronic disease, such as inflammatory arthritis. This was April’s MPT research placement project, co-supervised by Drs. Linda Li and Lynne Feehan.
Katie’s abstract, Effects of interventions that aim to increase exercise adherence in people with arthritis: A best evidence synthesis, evolved from her previous MPT research group project, supervised by Dr. Linda Li. Her presentation was well attended by both researchers and clinicians. As a full-time practicing PT, Katie did an excellent job in sharing her interpretation of the results from the perspective of a clinician and a researcher.
The American College of Rheumatology Meeting is the biggest meeting in the world for arthritis research. Rejection rate for abstracts is extremely high and only the top submissions get accepted for oral presentations.