title: Locomotor step training with body weight support improves respiratory motor function in individuals with chronic spinal cord injury.
abstract: This prospective case-controlled clinical study was undertaken to investigate to what extent the manually assisted treadmill stepping locomotor training with body weight support (LT) can change respiratory function in individuals with chronic spinal cord injury (SCI). Pulmonary function outcomes (forced vital capacity /FVC/, forced expiratory volume one second /FEV1/, maximum inspiratory pressure /PImax/, maximum expiratory pressure /PEmax/) and surface electromyographic (sEMG) measures of respiratory muscles activity during respiratory tasks were obtained from eight individuals with chronic C3-T12 SCI before and after 62±10 (mean±SD) sessions of the LT. FVC, FEV1, PImax, PEmax, amount of overall sEMG activity and rate of motor unit recruitment were significantly increased after LT (p<0.05). These results suggest that these improvements induced by the LT are likely the result of neuroplastic changes in spinal neural circuitry responsible for the activation of respiratory muscles preserved after injury.
authors.affiliation: Department of Exercise Physiology, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Terson de Paleville
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: McKay
authors.forename: Sevda
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aslan
authors.forename: Rodney
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Folz
authors.forename: Dimitry
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sayenko
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ovechkin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004576:Electromyography; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005541:Forced Expiratory Volume / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009043:Motor Activity; D012120:Respiration Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests; D012132:Respiratory Muscles / Q000503:physiopathology; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000150:complications* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014797:Vital Capacity / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Locomotor training; Motor control; Respiratory function; Spinal cord injury