PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Sakalidis, Kandianos Emmanouil AU - Menting, Stein Gerrit Paul AU - Hettinga, Florentina Johanna TI - Influence of intellectual disability on exercise regulation: exploring verbal, auditory and visual guidance to contribute to promote inclusive exercise environments AID - 10.1136/bmjsem-2023-001765 DP - 2024 Jan 01 TA - BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine PG - e001765 VI - 10 IP - 1 4099 - http://bmjopensem.bmj.com/content/10/1/e001765.short 4100 - http://bmjopensem.bmj.com/content/10/1/e001765.full SO - BMJ OPEN SP EX MED2024 Jan 01; 10 AB - Objective The role of intellectual disability (ID) in exercise regulation has remained largely unexplored, yet recent studies have indicated cognitive-related impaired pacing skills in people with ID. In a well-controlled laboratory environment, this study aims to (1) establish the role of ID in pacing and explore the ability of people with and without ID to maintain a steady pace; (2) to investigate if verbal feedback and/or (3) the presence of a pacer can improve the ability of people with ID to maintain a preplanned submaximal velocity.Methods Participants with (n=10) and without ID (n=10) were recruited and performed 7 min submaximal trials on a cycle ergometer (Velotron). Participants with ID also performed a cycling trial with a pacer (virtual avatar).Results The non-parametric tests for repeated measures data (p≤0.05) showed that (1) people with ID deviated more from the targeted pace compared with people without ID, (2) the verbal feedback did not influence their ability to keep a steady pace and (3) they deviated less from the targeted pace when a visual pacer was introduced.Conclusion The results revealed the difficulties of people with ID in planning and monitoring their exercise and the difficulties in appropriately responding to auditory and verbal feedback. Coaches and stakeholders who want to offer inclusive exercise pathways should consider that people with ID perform and pace themselves better when supported by intuitive, visual and personally meaningful stimuli such as other cyclists (avatars).Data are available in a public, open access repository.