Cardiovascular response to peak voluntary exercise in males with cervical spinal cord injury

Abstract

<div class="section"> <a class="named-anchor" id="d1682175e99"> <!-- named anchor --> </a> <h5 class="section-title" id="d1682175e100">Context/Objective</h5> <p id="d1682175e102">Traumatic damage to the cervical spinal cord is usually associated with a disruption of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and impaired cardiovascular control both during and following exercise. The magnitude of the cardiovascular dysfunction remains unclear. The aim of the current study was to compare cardiovascular responses to peak voluntary exercise in individuals with tetraplegia and able-bodied participants. </p> </div><div class="section"> <a class="named-anchor" id="d1682175e104"> <!-- named anchor --> </a> <h5 class="section-title" id="d1682175e105">Design</h5> <p id="d1682175e107">A case-control study.</p> </div><div class="section"> <a class="named-anchor" id="d1682175e109"> <!-- named anchor --> </a> <h5 class="section-title" id="d1682175e110">Subjects</h5> <p id="d1682175e112">Twenty males with cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) as the Tetra group and 27 able-bodied males as the Control group were included in the study. </p> </div><div class="section"> <a class="named-anchor" id="d1682175e114"> <!-- named anchor --> </a> <h5 class="section-title" id="d1682175e115">Outcome Measures</h5> <p id="d1682175e117">Blood pressure (BP) response one minute after the peak exercise, peak heart rate (HR _peak), and peak oxygen consumption (VO _2peak) on an arm crank ergometer were measured. In the second part of the study, 17 individuals of the Control group completed the Tetra group's workload protocol with the same parameters recorded. </p> </div><div class="section"> <a class="named-anchor" id="d1682175e125"> <!-- named anchor --> </a> <h5 class="section-title" id="d1682175e126">Results</h5> <p id="d1682175e128">There was no increase in BP in response to the exercise in the Tetra group. Able-bodied individuals exhibited significantly increased post-exercise systolic BP after the maximal graded exercise test (123±16%) and after completion of the Tetra group's workload protocol (114±11%) as compared to pre-exercise. The Tetra group VO _2peak was 59% and the HR _peak was 73% of the Control group VO _2peak and HR _peak, respectively. </p> </div><div class="section"> <a class="named-anchor" id="d1682175e142"> <!-- named anchor --> </a> <h5 class="section-title" id="d1682175e143">Conclusions</h5> <p id="d1682175e145">BP did not increase following maximal arm crank exercise in males with a cervical SCI unlike the increases observed in the Control group. Some males in the Tetra group appeared to be at risk of severe hypotension following high intensity exercise, which can limit the ability to progressive increase and maintain high intensity exercise. </p> </div>