Department of Exercise Science and Physical Education, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287-0701, USA

^aAuthor for correspondence: Department of Exercise Science and Physical Education, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287-0701, USA

The purpose of this pilot study was to compare the contribution of upper body musculature to VO₂ with and without concurrent leg FES (LFES). Eight subjects with spinal cord injury, lesion levels range C6-T12, performed upper body exercise (UBE) during no LFES (NOS), LFES at 40 mA (LOS), and 80 mA (HIS), at rest, 60% and 80% of VO_2peak. Resting VO₂ values were obtained during NOS, LOS and HIS conditions and were then subtracted from their respective whole body VO₂ values to give an estimate of upper body VO₂. Small and non significant increases were found in the HIS vs NOS condition at 60% VO_2peak. Larger differences of 7.8% were found in the HIS vs NOS condition at 80% VO_2peak (11.35±3.8 ml kg^-1 min^-1 to 12.24±4.0 ml kg^-1 min^-1), although this too was not significant, perhaps due to the small number of subjects in this study and the consequently low statistical power to detect a significant difference. We discuss the implications for these preliminary results in the context of the existing literature on this topic.

electrical stimulation; arm cranking; CHD risk; quadriplegic; paraplegic