Exercising online a “Beaming” good initiative

McCrea, G.; Morrison, L.; Palmer, S.

Objective: Evaluating the impact of 6 weeks of LIVE online exercise classes in the West of Scotland Adult CF Unit using the Beam platform for people with cystic fibrosis (pwCF). Methods: 63 pwCF enrolled for the classes via Beam. In addition, questionnaires were completed prior to and during shielding to establish motivation and personal objectives with exercise allowing therapists to structure sessions. 28 exercise and 12 education sessions focussing on the health and well-being of the pwCF were delivered. Exercises were adapted to all abilities through a variety of activities eg. yoga, strength and conditioning (S&C), easy exercise and high intensity interval training (HIIT). Results: 26 pwCF attended for 1 or more exercise sessions and 37 attended education sessions. Due to CF cross-infection limitations existing prior to COVID-19, group sessions were previously prohibited. These virtual classes allowed us to be 5× more time efficient with exercise and 12× more efficient when delivering education in a group setting than if they were delivered face-to-face. The post pilot questionnaire showed 64% were exercising on BEAM with their CF physio. The greatest uptake was HIIT (82%) followed by S&C (45%) with other options being equivocal. Motivation (measured using a VAS) increased from 5.75 (SD 2.67) pre-pilot to 7.18 (SD 2.36) post p = 0.189. Levels of perceived fitness also increased from 4.12 to 5.9 post-pilot p = 0.62. Personal fitness goals were fully or partially achieved by 91% of respondents and when asked comments were very positive: “This has been fantastic, especially during a difficult mental and very limiting physical lockdown period.” Conclusion: The implementation of BEAM Live online exercises for pwCF was found to be a satisfactory and convenient way to deliver exercising allowing for optimisation and progression of pwCF perceived exercise tolerance and motivation towards exercise. The sample size was small which may account for the lack of statistical significance.