EXERCISE CAPACITY OF UNTRAINED SPINAL-CORD INJURED INDIVIDUALS AND THE RELATIONSHIP OF PEAK OXYGEN-UPTAKE TO LEVEL OF INJURY

Twenty spinal cordd injured individuals were tested for maximal oxygen uptake (VO2peak 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 VO2peak were analysed by a one way ANOVA and Fisher’s LSD multiple comparisons. The F-ratio (50'93) was significant (p = < 0.0001). 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 VO2max 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 VO2peak in the untrained SCI is highly related to level of injury. © 1990 International Medical Society of Paraplegia.