Energy Cost of Lower Body Dressing, Pop-Over Transfers, and Manual Wheelchair Propulsion in People with Paraplegia Due to Motor-Complete Spinal Cord Injury

Abstract

Resting VO2 for adults with motor-complete paraplegia is 3.0 mL O2/kg/min, which is lower than standard resting VO2 in able-bodied individuals. Progressively more energy is required to perform MWP, LBD, and POTs, respectively. Use of the standard METs formula may underestimate the level of intensity an individual with SCI uses to perform physical activities.

Energy expenditure and muscle activity during lying, sitting, standing, and walking in people with motor-incomplete spinal cord injury

“…These higher values, compared with our findings, could be explained by the involvement of active movement of the upper body, trunk, and arms (desk work, computer work, reading), in these other studies and differences in study samples. Interestingly, these other studies showed that sitting or working in a sitting position is not or hardly enough to interrupt sedentary behavior (<1.5 METs) in both people with motor-incomplete or motor-complete SCI [15,17,18]. Results from other studies in the general population were in line with our findings and found no significant differences in EE during supine and motionless sitting measurements [30,31].…”

“…There were no differences between the two ambulation groups. Other studies determined EE during activities considered sedentary in motor-complete SCI (or a combination with motor-incomplete) and found higher values between 1.2 and 1.6 METs [15,17,18]. These higher values, compared with our findings, could be explained by the involvement of active movement of the upper body, trunk, and arms (desk work, computer work, reading), in these other studies and differences in study samples.…”

“…We found a mean VO 2 of 3.19 ml/kg/min (SD 0.87) in the participants of our study with motorincomplete SCI. Studies on resting VO 2 including people with complete SCI or mixed motor-complete and -incomplete SCI groups showed VO 2 values between 2.47 and 3.2 ml/kg/min [15][16][17][18]25]. Individuals with motor-incomplete injuries seem to have higher resting VO 2 compared to those with motor-complete injuries [13,16,17].…”

“…Several studies reported that the resting metabolic rate in SCI individuals is overestimated by 5-35% when the standard value is used [14][15][16]. Therefore, most studies use the participant's own resting VO 2 to calculate EE in METs during daily activities in the SCI population [15][16][17][18][19]. However, these studies mainly focused on individuals with motor-complete SCI and EE values during non-sedentary activities.…”