Exercise capacity of untrained spinal cord injured individuals and the relationship of peak oxygen uptake to level of injury

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Abstract
Twenty spinal cord injured individuals were tested for maximal oxygen uptake (O2 peak using a hysteresis brake wheelchair ergometer. The subjects were divided into 4 groups as follows: (a) quadriplegics (4 subjects); (b) untrained female paraplegics (5 subjects); (c) untrained male paraplegics (7 subjects); and (d) trained male paraplegics (4 subjects). The O2 peak were analysed by a one way ANOVA and Fisher's LSD multiple comparisons. The F-ratio (50-93) was significant (p = < 0.000l). Fisher's LSD post hoc multiple comparisons found the following differences: (a) quadriplegics were significantly lower than the untrained paraplegic females, untrained paraplegic males and trained paraplegic males; (b) untrained females were significantly lower than the untrained male paraplegics, and trained paraplegic males; (c) untrained paraplegic males were significantly lower than the trained male paraplegics. A Spearman Rho correlation was calculated using injury level and O2 max for all the untrained SCI individuals. The correlation was 0.68 and had a significance level of 0.0019. The present study combined with the known research literature gives strong evidence that O2 peak in the untrained SCI is highly related to level of injury.