Background: A spinal cord injury (SCI) leads to patho-physiological changes that can affect physical and psychological performance. The aim of this observational study was to evaluate the relationship between exercise capacity, functioning and quality of life in patients 12 weeks after traumatic paraplegia participating in early rehabilitation.
Material and methods: 13 patients participated in this study and performed cardio-pulmonary exercise testing (CPET) on an arm-crank ergometer to determine peak exercise capacity (VO2peak). Data from the spinal cord independence measure (SCIM) were used to assess different areas of functioning. The 12-item short form survey (SF12) questionnaire was applied to measure quality of life. Spearman correlations were used to relate VO2peak with SCIM data and results from the SF12 questionnaire.
Results: VO2peak ranged between 12.6 and 28.1 ml/kg/min. A significant relationship was found between VO2peak and the physical component of the SF12 questionnaire, whereas no correlations were found with either SCIM sub or total score, or with the mental component or the total score of the SF12 questionnaire.
Conclusions: 1. Patients with traumatic paraplegia showed fair to average exercise capacity after 12 weeks of early rehabilitation. 2. A significant relationship between VO2peak and subjectively rated physical fitness exists at this time point. 3. The implementation of an individual fitness program tailored to the patients' needs based on CPET results is highly recommended in order to improve functioning and quality of life.
Keywords: SCIM; SF12; cardiopulmonary exercise testing; paraplegia; rehabilitation; xercise capacity.