Effect of regular exercise on cardiopulmonary fitness in males with spinal cord injury.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the cardiopulmonary endurance of subjects with spinal cord injury by measuring the maximal oxygen consumption with varying degrees of spinal cord injury level, age, and regular exercise.


METHODS
We instructed the subjects to perform exercises using arm ergometer on healthy adults at 20 years of age or older with spinal cord injury, and their maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) was measured with a metabolic measurement system. The exercise proceeded stepwise according to the exercise protocol and was stopped when the subject was exhausted or when VO2 reached an equilibriu.


RESULTS
Among the 40 subjects, there were 10 subjects with cervical cord injury, 27 with thoracic cord injury, and 3 with lumbar cord injury. Twenty-five subjects who were exercised regularly showed statistically higher results of VO2max than those who did not exercise regularly. Subjects with cervical injury showed statistically lower VO2max than the subjects with thoracic or lumbar injury out of the 40 subjects with neurologic injury. In addition, higher age showed a statistically lower VO2max. Lastly, the regularly exercising paraplegic group showed higher VO2max than the non-exercising paraplegic group.


CONCLUSIONS
There are differences in VO2max of subjects with spinal cord injury according to the degree of neurologic injury, age, and whether the subject participates in regular exercise. We found that regular exercise increased the VO2max in individuals with spinal cord injury.
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine, Wonju, Korea. ; Center for Exercise Medicine, Yonsei University, Wonju, Korea.
Young Hee
YH
Lee
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine, Wonju, Korea.
Kyung Joon
KJ
Oh
Center for Exercise Medicine, Yonsei University, Wonju, Korea. ; Department of Physiology, Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine, Wonju, Korea.
In Deok
ID
Kong
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine, Wonju, Korea.
Sung Hoon
SH
Kim
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine, Wonju, Korea.
Jong Mock
JM
Shinn
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine, Wonju, Korea.
Jong Heon
JH
Kim
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine, Wonju, Korea.
Dongsoo
D
Yi
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine, Wonju, Korea.
Jin Hyeong
JH
Lee
Department of Physiology, Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine, Wonju, Korea.
Jae Seung
JS
Chang
Center for Exercise Medicine, Yonsei University, Wonju, Korea. ; Department of Physiology, Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine, Wonju, Korea.
Tae-Ho
TH
Kim
Center for Exercise Medicine, Yonsei University, Wonju, Korea.
Eun Ju
EJ
Kim
Aerobic exercise; Aging; Arm ergometry test; Oxygen consumption; Spinal cord injury