Blood Flow and Lactic Acid Levels in Exercising Paralyzed Wheelchair Bound Individuals

Abstract

Twenty spinal-cord-injured subjects (4 quadriplegics and 16 paraplegics) were maximally stress tested on the Arizona State University wheelchair ergometer. Physiological data for each individual were collected as follows: (a) blood flow in the left leg by a photoelectric plethysmograph before exercise, during exercise, and postexercise, and (b) blood lactates before exercise and post-exercise. Eleven subjects had increased leg blood flow and vasodilation during exercise, but vasoconstriction postexercise. The lactate readings, in comparison to able-bodied individuals, were higher at rest but lower at maximal exercise.

Thermoregulatory responses of paraplegic and able-bodied athletes at rest and during prolonged upper body exercise and passive recovery

“…However, other athletes in the present study with spinal cord lesions below T10 demonstrated relatively little change in calf skin temperature. These results support previous observations that large variations in vasomotor responses exist for subjects with lower level spinal cord lesions (Normell 1974;Burkett et al 1988;Gass et al 1988).…”

A systematic review of exercise as a therapeutic intervention to improve arterial function in persons living with spinal cord injury

“…31 Conclusions: There is level 2 evidence 40,41,52 (reliable results but debatable) showing that local blood volume regulation in denervated limbs is impaired during upper body cycling in SCI. In addition, there is level 2 evidence 40,52,58 (reliable results but debatable) suggesting that leg blood flow increases during upper body cycling; however, these conclusions were not verified statistically. There is however level 2 evidence showing that leg blood flow does not increase to a statically significant level during upper body cycling exercise.…”

“…31 58 showed increases in leg blood flow during upper body arm cycling at moderate 40,52 and maximal 58 intensity levels (durations of 4-15 min). The results of Kinzer and Convertino 40 as well as Burkett et al, 58 however, failed to show significant changes, and work by Bidart and Maury 52 did not include a statistical analysis or original data. Hopman et al 31 took this line of research a step further and illustrated that there is no statistically significant increase in femoral artery blood flow during 25 min of upper body cycling.…”

“…Eight articles were prospective control trials 31,41,[51][52][53][54][55][56] and six were pre-post design. 40,[57][58][59][60][61] Papers investigating acute exercise included: passive leg exercise (n ¼ 3), 53,57,60 FES (n ¼ 3), 54,55,59 single muscle electrical stimulation (n ¼ 1), 56 upper body continuous aerobic exercise (arm cycling or wheeling) (n ¼ 5), 31,40,41,52,58 acute combined arm passive leg exercise (n ¼ 1) 61 and stretchinduced contractions (n ¼ 1). 51 Tables 1 and 2 are a summary of published investigations researching the effect of acute exercise on arterial function in SCI individuals.…”

“…Upper body exercise for individuals with SCI is a relatively inexpensive and simple technique to increase physical activity. The arterial changes in SCI persons induced by acute bouts of upper body exercise have been studied in five 31,40,41,52,58 articles. Three papers from this group investigated blood flow changes in response to arm cranking.…”