Abstract
Study design: Cross-sectional study comparing healthy subjects with age and gender matched subjects with spinal cord injury (SCI, injury levels from C5 to T12).
Objectives: To compare the acute cardiorespiratory responses and muscle oxygenation trends during functional electrical stimulation (FES) cycle exercise and recovery in the SCI and healthy subjects exercising on a mechanical cycle ergometer.
Setting: Seven volunteers in each group participated in one exercise test at the Rick Hansen Center, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
Methods: Both groups completed a stagewise incremental test to voluntary fatigue followed by 2 min each of active and passive recovery. Cardiorespiratory responses were continuously monitored using an automated metabolic cart and a wireless heart rate monitor. Tissue absorbency, an index of muscle oxygenation, was monitored non-invasively from the vastus lateralis using near infrared spectroscopy.
Results: The healthy subjects showed significant (P<0.05) increases in the oxygen uptake (V˙O2), heart rate (HR) and ventilation rate (V˙E) from rest to maximal exercise. The SCI subjects showed a twofold increase in V˙O2 (P>0.05), a threefold increase in Vdot;E (P<0.05) and a 5 beats/min increase in HR (P>0.05) from the resting value. The SCI subjects demonstrated a lesser degree (P<0.05) of muscle deoxygenation than the healthy subjects during the transition from rest to exercise. Regression analysis indicated that the rate of decline in muscle deoxygenation with respect to the V˙O2 was significantly (P<0.05) faster in the SCI subjects compared to healthy subjects.
Conclusions: FES exercise in SCI subjects elicits: (a) modest increases in the cardiorespiratory responses when compared to resting levels; (b) lower degree of muscle deoxygenation during maximal exercise, and (c) faster changes in muscle deoxygenation with respect to the V˙O2 during exercise when compared to healthy subjects.
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Bhambhani, Y., Tuchak, C., Burnham, R. et al. Quadriceps muscle deoxygenation during functional electrical stimulation in adults with spinal cord injury. Spinal Cord 38, 630–638 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.sc.3101079
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.sc.3101079
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