CARDIAC DIMENSIONS AND CARDIOCIRCULATORY AND METABOLIC REACTIONS TO EXERCISE IN ENDURANCE-TRAINED PARAPLEGICS

Objective: To determine the effect of physical activity on pulmonary, cardiovascular and metabolic activity in paraplegics. Patients and met hods: Eight male paraplegics (average age 35.7 [range 25-47] years) ha d been selected from a pool of training members of the German Sport Un ion for the Disabled. They performed graded arm crank training for 8.3 +/-3,1 h/week. Left ventricular volume (LW), stroke volume (SV), wall thickness (WT), heart rate (HR) as well as serum lactate concentration were measured after different levels of the graded exercise. Results were compared with those obtained in 11 male sport students (average a ge 26.4 [23-30] years), who had similarly trained for 5.6+/-1,3 h/week . Results: The paraplegics had a significantly smaller LW than the con trols (771+/-84 ml vs 976+/-84 ml) and smaller SV (83+/-13 ml vs 104+/ -11 ml), with comparable WT. Paraplegics achieved significantly lower maximal exercise (145+/-23.7 vs 160+/-28.2) and maximal HR (177+/-12 v s 170+/-9) were not significantly different at the various exercise st eps. Conclusion: Paraplegia decreases cardiac dimensions and function. Long-term physical exercise achieves results comparable with those of untrained but not of trained healthy controls. Physically active para plegics showed physiological cardiovascular and metabolic reactions to exercise.