Journal
JOURNAL OF REHABILITATION MEDICINE
Volume 50, Issue 2, Pages 173-180Publisher
FOUNDATION REHABILITATION INFORMATION
DOI: 10.2340/16501977-2281
Keywords
walking; cardiovascular; exoskeleton; spinal cord injury
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Objective: To investigate the effects of overground bionic ambulation with variable assistance on cardiorespiratory and metabolic responses in persons with motor-incomplete spinal cord injury. Design: Case series. Subjects: Four participants with chronic, motor-incomplete spinal cord injury. Methods: Subjects completed a maximal graded exercise test on an arm-ergometer and 3 6-min bouts of overground bionic ambulation using different modes of assistance, i.e. Maximal, Adaptive, Fixed. Cardiorespiratory (oxygen consumption) and metabolic (caloric expenditure and substrate utilization) measures were taken using a mobile metabolic cart at each overground bionic ambulation assistance. Results: Cardiorespiratory responses ranged from low (24% VO2 peak) for the least impaired and fittest individual to supramaximal (124% VO2 peak) for the participant with the largest impairments and the lowest level of fitness. Different overground bionic ambulation assistive modes elicited small (3-8% VO2 peak) differences in cardiorespiratory responses for 3 participants. One participant had a large (28% VO2 peak) difference in cardiorespiratory responses to different modes of overground bionic ambulation. Metabolic responses mostly tracked closely with cardiorespiratory responses. Total energy expenditure ranged from 1.39 to 7.17 kcal/min. Fat oxidation ranged from 0.00 to 0.17 g/min across participants and different overground bionic ambulation modes. Conclusion: Overground bionic ambulation with variable assistance can substantially increase cardiorespiratory and metabolic responses; however, these responses vary widely across participants and overground bionic ambulation modes.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available