The individual relationship between heart rate and oxygen uptake in people with a tetraplegia during exercise

Abstract

Study design: Descriptive study. Objective: To examine the individual heart rate-oxygen uptake (HR-VO 2 ) relationship during exercise in persons with tetraplegia (TP). Setting: Rehabilitation Centre Heliomare, Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands. Methods: The HR-VO 2 relationship was determined in untrained subjects with motor complete TP (C5 or C6, n ¼ 10 and C7 or C8, n ¼ 10) during a discontinuous graded exercise hand cycle test. The mean HR and VO 2 of the final 60 s of 2-min exercise blocks were used for calculation of the individual correlation coefficient and the standard error of the estimate (SEE). Results: Two subjects of the C5-C6 group were not able to complete the test. Individual Pearson's correlation coefficients (r) ranged from 0.68 to 0.97 and SEE from 2.6 to 22.4% VO 2 -Reserve (VO 2 R). The mean Pearson's r and SEE were 0.8170.12 and 10.675.6% VO 2 R in the C5-C6 group and 0.9170.07 and 7.073.2% VO 2 R in the C7-C8 group, respectively. Two subjects of the C5-C6 group and six subjects of the C7-C8 group attained a linear HR-VO 2 relationship with an acceptable SEE (p6.0%) and r (40.90). Conclusions: The HR-VO 2 relationship appeared linear in only eight out of 18 subjects. An individual analysis of the HR-VO 2 relationship is necessary to determine whether HR can be used to quantify exercise intensity. The use of HR to prescribe training intensity should be reconsidered in persons with TP. Sponsorship: This study is supported from a grant by ZON-MW.

Physical strain of handcycling: An evaluation using training guidelines for a healthy lifestyle as defined by the American College of Sports Medicine

“…[1][2][3] Recent studies provided evidence indicating that handcycling could be a promising exercise mode of upper-body training in the context of a healthy lifestyle. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] Handcycling is theoretically a very appealing training mode because risks of overuse injuries are very low. In contrast to the straining hand rim wheelchair propulsion, where incidence of shoulder complaints is high, 19 the muscles full circular movement of handcycling.…”

Effect of caffeine on maximal oxygen uptake in wheelchair rugby players: A randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study

“…The general concept that high values of aerobic and anaerobic power strongly correlate with endurance and speed performance is not valid for this population. Next, due to their disability these athletes have problems reaching higher HR max (Figoni, 1993;Paulson et al, 2013;Tanhoffer et al, 2012;Valent et al, 2007), control their thermoregulation (Krassioukov et al, 2007), maintain adequate arterial blood pressure (Krassioukov et al, 2007), low stroke volume during training or competition session (Figoni, 1993). The data obtained from the present study provide a unique opportunity to expand knowledge about the exercise physiology of highly trained wheelchair rugby players.…”

“…The sympathetic innervation of the heart derives from Th-1 to Th-4 and therefore spinal cord lesions at or above Th-4 may lead to inappropriate cardio-acceleration. As a consequence, maximal heart rate in persons with tetraplegia is often restricted (Figoni, 1993;Paulson, Bishop, Leicht, & Goosey-Tolfrey, 2013;Tanhoffer, Tanhoffer, Raymond, Hills, & Davis, 2012;Valent et al, 2007). Apart from the disturbed sympathetic innervation, individuals with tetraplegia have a low physical capacity as a consequence of the low active muscle mass and inactivity of the venous muscle pump (Valent et al, 2007).…”

Validity of heart rate indexes to assess wheeling efficiency in patients with spinal cord injuries

“…7 This correlation has been demonstrated with regard to healthy adults, 7 individuals with cerebral palsy or healthy children 8 and individuals with SCI, all of them while walking. [9][10][11] Various reports in the literature have suggested the use of indexes to measure the displacement efficiency using HR as an alternative method of assessing energy cost. It is understood by efficiency here refers to the ratio of the work done or energy developed by one individual while moving on a wheelchair.…”