OBJECTIVE: To determine whether adults with lower limb orthopedic conditions who received additional weekend physical therapy (PT) and occupational therapy (OT) demonstrated increased habitual physical activity. DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial. SETTING: Inpatient rehabilitation center. PARTICIPANTS: Adults (n = 105, 72 women; mean age +/- SD 74 +/- 12 y) admitted with a lower limb orthopedic condition, cognitively alert and able to walk. INTERVENTION: The control group received PT and OT monday to friday; in addition, the experimental group also received a full saturday PT and OT service. Participants wore an activity monitor for 7 days. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Daily steps and daily upright time (hours). RESULTS: Overall, participants took a mean of 589 +/- 640 steps per day and spent a mean of 1.2 +/- 0.9 hours upright per day. Experimental group participants took more than twice as many steps (mean difference 428 steps; 95% confidence interval (CI) 184 to 673) and spent 50% +/- 20% more time upright (mean difference 0.5 h; 95% CI 0.1 to 0.9) than control group participants on saturdays. In the days after additional therapy, experimental group participants took 63% +/- 28% more steps (mean difference 283 steps; 95% CI 34 to 532) and spent 40% +/- 17% more time upright (mean difference 0.4 h; 95% CI 0.1 to 0.8) per day than participants in the control group. CONCLUSIONS: Providing additional rehabilitation services on the weekend increased habitual activity, but patients with lower limb orthopedic conditions admitted to rehabilitation remained relatively inactive even with additional therapy.

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