Exercise Intensity during Treadmill Walking with Gait-Patterned FES among Patients with Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury : Case Series

Abstract EN

Purpose.

To determine the feasibility of increasing the cardiopulmonary exercise intensity during walking with gait-patterned functional electrical stimulation (GP-FES) among individuals with motor incomplete SCI.

Methods.

Two men with motor-incomplete SCI (Subjects A and B, age 45 and 50 years; Level of Injury: C4 and T10; AIS score: D and D, resp.) performed a three sequential four-minute continuous walking sessions [(1) regular gait (non-GP-FES-1); (2) gait with GP-FES (GP-FES); (3) regular gait (non-GP-FES-2)].

Oxygen consumption (Vo2) was measured continuously during trials.

Results.

Vo2 was higher during GP-FES (Subjects A and B; 14.5 and 19.1 mL/kg/min, resp.) as compared to regular gait (Non-GP-FES-1: Subjects A and B; 13.4 and 17.0: mL/kg/min, resp.; non-GP-FES-2: Subjects A and B; 13.1 and 17.5: mL/kg/min, resp.).

Conclusion.

The exercise intensity of GP-FES walking was higher than that of regular walking among individuals with motor incomplete SCI.

Further investigations are required to determine the clinical relevance of the exercise.