{"id":423,"date":"2022-10-25T07:27:33","date_gmt":"2022-10-25T06:27:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopensem\/?p=423"},"modified":"2022-10-25T07:28:02","modified_gmt":"2022-10-25T06:28:02","slug":"a-peek-behind-the-study-with-hedwig-boeck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopensem\/2022\/10\/25\/a-peek-behind-the-study-with-hedwig-boeck\/","title":{"rendered":"A PEEK BEHIND THE STUDY … WITH HEDWIG BOECK"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Haufe<\/span> S<\/span>, Boeck<\/span> HT<\/span>, H\u00e4ckl<\/span> S<\/span><\/span>, et al.\u00a0<\/span>Impact of electrically assisted bicycles on physical activity and traffic accident risk: a prospective observational study.\u00a0BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine <\/span>2022;<\/span>8:<\/span>e001275. <\/span>doi:<\/span> 10.1136\/bmjsem-2021-001275<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
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The full paper can be found here<\/a><\/p>\n

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Tell us more about yourself and the author team.<\/strong><\/h5>\n

As a research team, we have investigated health promotion through e-bikes since 2015. In the beginning, we concentrated on the use in the operational setting. We did an observational crossover study with 101 employees in four different companies in Hanover, Germany (PMID: 32635352).\u00a0In the present prospective observational study, we significantly enlarged the sample and examined 1879 e-bikers and conventional cyclists and the impact of e-bikers on physical activity. Here we also documented the accident for the first time to see that the topic needs to be given much more attention. Therefore, we are currently conducting an accident study in which we record single-vehicle accidents and near accidents. Here, interviews are added to the questionnaires to get more details. Recruitment has already ended. The observation phase will continue until next year. We are looking forward to the results and hope we will contribute to safer cycling. We are a young and bike-enthusiastic team at the Institute for Sports Medicine. The bicycle is our daily companion; we keep ourselves fit and healthy by cycling, so the research results have high practical relevance for the cycling community and for us.<\/p>\n

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What is the story behind your study?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Parallel to our research results, a real e-bike boom has set in, and the sales of e-bikes in Germany from 2015 to 2021 almost quadrupled from 540.000 to 2.000.000 (https:\/\/de.statista.com\/statistik\/daten\/studie\/152721\/umfrage\/absatz-von-e-bikes-in-deutschland\/<\/a>). This shows the relevance of the topic and the increased need for research, including long-term studies.\u00a0We want to use the current bike boom to counteract the increasing lack of exercise.<\/p>\n

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In your own words, what did you find?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

E-bikers generally cycled less frequent, for a shorter overall duration and at lower\u00a0intensities than conventional bike users.\u00a0E-bikers use their bikes mainly to alleviate physical strain during cycling and\u00a0promote health. They were more likely than conventional bike users to replace their\u00a0cars with e-bikes for different journeys.\u00a0The risk for road traffic accidents and near accidents was similar among bike\u00a0groups.\u00a0In general, the expected health effects of cycling might be higher for bicycle users\u00a0compared with e-bike users. Yet, e-bikes might enable regular cycling for individuals\u00a0who are limited by age- or illness-associated constrictions and would not otherwise\u00a0consider conventional cycling.<\/p>\n

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What was the main challenge you faced in your study?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

The biggest challenge was recruiting a large sample; the test persons were distributed all over Germany. The provision of activity trackers and the measurement phases in winter made it even more difficult.\u00a0The recruitment problems prompted us to adapt the study design. In another publication, we are currently working on the \u201cold design\u201d to evaluate the long-term use one year after purchase.<\/p>\n

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If there is one take-home message from your study, what would that be?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

As a replacement for private cars and for people with physical limitations, an e-bike could be an important part of promoting exercise and health. A trained use and safe handling of the bike should be guaranteed as well as the selection of an appropriate level of motor support.<\/p>\n

So take your bike for a healthy ride.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Haufe S, Boeck HT, H\u00e4ckl S, et al.\u00a0Impact of electrically assisted bicycles on physical activity and traffic accident risk: a prospective observational study.\u00a0BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine 2022;8:e001275. doi: 10.1136\/bmjsem-2021-001275 […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":455,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[163,164,173,13,11],"class_list":["post-423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-peek-behind-the-study","tag-biking","tag-e-bike","tag-ebike","tag-health","tag-physical-activity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopensem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopensem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopensem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopensem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/455"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopensem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopensem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopensem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopensem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopensem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}