Energy requirements of gamefield exercises designed for wheelchair-bound persons

This report presents energy requirements of three athletic exercises (power ramp, climber, and chin-ups) in a free-wheeling gamefield developed by the City of Houston for wheelchair-bound persons. Heart rate was monitored by telemetry. Expired gas samples were collected in Douglas bags. Oxygen and CO2 concentrations were determined by mass spectrometry and expired gas volumes by a wet gas meter. Pulmonary ventilation, O2 consumption, and CO2 production were calculated from expired gas samples. Laboratory studies were conducted on eight men with paraplegia and ten untrained, healthy, able-bodied men. The same persons were tested on the gamefield while propelling a wheelchair over the power ramp, the climber, and doing chin-ups. Age and weight were 32 +/- 4yrs vs 31 +/- 6yrs and 79.6kg vs 79.0kg, respectively, for paraplegic and healthy men. Paraplegic men had average heart rates of 133 +/- 11bpm, 133 +/- 19bpm, and 135 +/- 21bpm, respectively, for the power ramp, climber, and chin-ups. Heart rate values for able-bodied men were 136 +/- 26bpm, 139 +/- 24bpm, and 136 +/- 26bpm, respectively, for the same three exercises. The paraplegic men's VO2 measurements were 13.2 +/- 2.2, 11.5 +/- 2.8, and 6.4 +/- 2.9ml/min/kg, respectively, for the power ramp, climber, and chin-ups. The able-bodied men's VO2 measurements were 15.8 +/- 2.8, 15.4 +/- 3.6, and 9.2 +/- 2.8 ml/min/kg for the same exercises. Patients with paraplegia seemed to outperform able-bodied men in all events. Gamefield exercises appeared to tax the cardiorespiratory system at a level comparable to that usually prescribed for training purposes.