Background and objective Despite the known health benefits of physical activity (PA), pregnancy is a time of marked decline in PA levels. To provide women with reliable and trustworthy information, and to encourage greater participation in PA during pregnancy, many governments have developed guidelines for PA during pregnancy. Our aim was to synthesise the most recent public health guidelines on PA during pregnancy from different countries in order to understand the nature and extent of advice that is available. Design Scoping review. Data sources Search of the grey literature, direct contact with international experts, screening of relevant academic literature and citation searching. Eligibility criteria Public health guidelines developed or endorsed by government departments published since 2010. Results Our search located 30 eligible guidelines, published in 11 different languages. There is remarkable concordance in the advice offered. For women with uncomplicated pregnancy, guidelines recommend: 150–300 min/week of moderate intensity aerobic activity; pelvic floor and muscle strengthening exercises; modification of some exercises (eg, supine position); and provide lists of warning signs to cease activity (eg, persistent dizziness, vaginal bleeding) and activities that should be avoided (eg, if high risk of falling/collision). Few guidelines offer specific advice for highly active women (eg, athletes), or trimester-specific or culturally specific considerations. Conclusions This review provides a summary of public health recommendations for PA during pregnancy around the world. The challenge is now to ensure that all who provide healthcare for women understand the guidelines and encourage safe participation in PA during pregnancy.

Journal of Medical Internet Research - International Scientific Journal for Medical Research, Information and Communication on the Internet #Preprint #PeerReviewMe: Warning: This is a unreviewed preprint. Readers are warned that the document has not been peer-reviewed by expert/patient reviewers or an academic editor, may contain misleading claims, and is likely to undergo changes before final publication, if accepted, or may have been rejected/withdrawn. Readers with interest and expertise are encouraged to sign up as peer-reviewer, if the paper is within an open peer-review period. Please cite this preprint only for review purposes or for grant applications and CVs (if you are the author). Background: Guidelines for physical activity and exercise during pregnancy recommend that all women without contraindications engage in regular physical activity to improve both their own health and the health of their baby. Many women are uncertain how to safely engage in physical activity and exercise during this life stage and are increasingly using mobile apps to access health-related information. However, the extent to which apps that provide physical activity and exercise advice align with current evidence-based pregnancy recommendations is unclear. Objective: This study aims to conduct a systematic search and content analysis of apps that promote physical activity and exercise in pregnancy to examine the alignment of the content with current evidence-based recommendations; delivery, format, and features of physical activity and exercise instruction; and credentials of the app developers. Methods: Systematic searches were conducted in the Australian App Store and Google Play Store in October 2020. Apps were identified using combinations of search terms relevant to pregnancy and exercise or physical activity and screened for inclusion (with a primary focus on physical activity and exercise during pregnancy, free to download or did not require immediate paid subscription, and an average user rating of ≥4 out of 5). Apps were then independently reviewed using an author-designed extraction tool. Results: Overall, 27 apps were included in this review (Google Play Store: 16/27, 59%, and App Store: 11/27, 41%). Two-thirds of the apps provided some information relating to the frequency, intensity, time, and type principles of exercise; only 11% (3/27) provided this information in line with current evidence-based guidelines. Approximately one-third of the apps provided information about contraindications to exercise during pregnancy and referenced the supporting evidence. None of the apps actively engaged in screening for potential contraindications. Only 15% (4/27) of the apps collected information about the user’s current exercise behaviors, 11% (3/27) allowed users to personalize features relating to their exercise preferences, and a little more than one-third provided information about developer credentials. Conclusions: Few exercise apps designed for pregnancy aligned with current evidence-based physical activity guidelines. None of the apps screened users for contraindications to physical activity and exercise during pregnancy, and most lacked appropriate personalization features to account for an individual’s characteristics. Few involved qualified experts during the development of the app. There is a need to improve the quality of apps that promote exercise in pregnancy to ensure that women are appropriately supported to engage in exercise and the potential risk of injury, complications, and adverse pregnancy outcomes for both mother and child is minimized. This could be done by providing expert guidance that aligns with current recommendations, introducing screening measures and features that enable personalization and tailoring to individual users, or by developing a recognized system for regulating apps.

Background: To support the strategy development for communication of the updated physical activity (PA) guidelines, the UK Chief Medical Officers’ Expert Panel for Communication was created. Methods: To help inform this process, a rapid review was performed to identify and describe how other nations are communicating their PA guidelines and PA generally. Elements of the health-enhancing physical activity policy audit tool created by the World Health Organization were used to investigate all 195 countries. Results: Seventy-seven countries had their own guidelines; 53 used the World Health Organization guidelines, and for 65 countries, no guidelines could be found. For the communication, 27 countries used infographics; 56 had government policies/documents, and 11 used a mass media campaign. Only 6 of these had been evaluated. Although many countries used infographics, there were no associated evaluations. As such, any future communication strategies should incorporate an evaluation. Mass media campaigns had the strongest evidence base, proving to be an effective strategy, particularly when incorporating aspects of social marketing. Conclusion: This review provides an insight into strategies countries worldwide have taken to communicate PA guidelines and PA promotion. These should be carefully considered when deciding how best to communicate and promote PA guidelines.

There have been calls for more enjoyable Physical Activity (PA) interventions which focus on ensuring a positive affective response. This study explored how using a narrative, characters, and music in a video-led PA session might influence the sense of immersion and impact the affective response. One hundred and thirty-six participants (boys n = 65, girls n = 71) were recruited, 85% aged between 7 and 11 years old. Participants completed the “Move Like the Avengers” PA video created by Les Mills and Marvel, then complete a survey answering questions on their post activity affective responses, and the use of immersive elements. Positive average affective responses were found (valence mean score: 3.6 ± 2.2, arousal mean score: 5.1 ± 1.0). Analysis revealed the narrative with characters indirectly mediate the valence response through creating a sense of immersion (β_std = 0.122 [95%CI 0.013 to 0.231]; p = 0.012). Musical elements had both a direct (β_std = 0.449 [95%CI 0.264 to 0.634]; p < 0.001), and an indirect (β_std = 0.122 [95%CI 0.014 to 0.229]; p = 0.011) effect upon valence and a direct effect upon arousal (β_std = 0.244 [95%CI 0.006 to 0.482]; p = 0.021). These promising results provide justification for future research into children’s immersive PA.

The gold standard measure for assessing muscular size currently is magnetic resonance imaging; however, it is expensive and not easily accessible. Both anthropometric techniques (AN) and ultrasound (UT) are commonly employed methods to measure muscle size. However, the degree to which these approaches offer similar information has not been examined. The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between UT and AN measurements of muscle thickness in addition to their comparative reliability. Fifteen males (27±9 years) volunteered to take part in the study and underwent both AN and UT measures, taken to assess their upper arm and upper leg muscle size on separate days a week apart. Correlations between the two measures ranged from r=0.548-0.918 (p<0.05) suggesting a good relationship and thus comparable information. Results showed similar coefficient of variation (CV%) for the upper leg (AN 2.3%, UT 2.4%), but slightly greater reliability for UT results for the upper arm (AN 5.5%, UT 2.8%). It appears that both methods are reliable approaches to measurement of muscle size, though AN likely represents a lower cost and greater ease of use. Researchers should consider this when deciding upon which approach to use in the assessment of muscle size in the absence of gold standard approaches.