Health status of regularly physically active persons with spinal cord injury

A non-controlled cross-sectional study.

To make a descriptive examination of health status in persons with paraplegia and tetraplegia who exercise regularly according to Canadian guidelines.

Sunnaas Rehabilitation Hospital and the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences.

Eighteen persons (men/women = 9/9), aged 41‒72 years with spinal cord injury (SCI), who exercise regularly were included. Post-injury years ranged from 4 to 48 years. Clinical examination of body composition, bone mineral density (BMD), forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV₁), diffusion capacity (DL_CO), cardiorespiratory fitness (VO_2max), and self-reported quality of life (QOL) obtained by questionnaire was performed. Lung function results are presented as % predicted and VO_2max as absolute values relative to body weight. All results are given as median and range.

Persons with paraplegia (n = 13) were defined as overweight with fat mass 42% (25‒51). BMD 1.047 g cm^-2 (0.885‒1.312) was within normal range. FVC 95% predicted (60‒131), FEV₁ 90% predicted (61‒119), DL_CO 77% predicted (56‒103), and VO_2max 16.66 ml kg^-1 min^-1 (12.15‒25.28) defined good aerobic capacity according to age controlled reference values (18). Persons with tetraplegia (n = 5) were slightly overweight with fat mass 35% (26‒47). BMD 1.122 g cm^-2 (1.095‒1.299) was within normal range. FVC 72% predicted (46‒91), FEV₁ 75% predicted (43‒83), DL_CO 67% predicted (56‒84), and VO_2max 16.70 ml kg^-1 min^-1 (9.91‒21.01) defined excellent aerobic capacity according to reference values (18). QOL was ranked as median 7.5 (0‒10 scale).

Persons with SCI who exercise regularly following the Canadian guidelines responded with rather positive associations for health outcomes. Additional research is needed to strengthen our findings.