Abstract
Background: The thermophysiology of athletes with spinal cord injuries (SCI) is not well understood. Spinal cord lesions impact muscle mass, thermoregulatory neural signals and circulatory function. Understanding SCI thermoregulation physiology would benefit exercise function. Therefore, this study was designed to describe heat storage in the upper and lower bodies of SCI and able-bodied (AB) athletes. Procedure: Seven SCI and 8 AB athletes (matched for arm-crank VO2 peak) performed a ramp protocol in an environment similar to an indoor competitive environment (21˚C±1.5˚C, 55±3% relative humidity).Results: SCI athletes experienced similar upper-body heat storage of 0.82±0.59 J.g-1 and lower-body heat storage of 0.47±0.33 J.g-1 compared with that of AB athletes at 0.80±0.61 J.g-1 and 0.27±0.22 J.g-1 for upper and lower body, respectively. There were no significant differences between groups for rectal temperature (Trec) or oesophageal temperature (Tes). However, mean skin temperature (Msk) was significantly higher for SCI throughout the exercise bout (p=0.006). Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that SCI and AB athletes appear to thermoregulate in a similar manner, though SCI tend to store slightly more heat.
Highlights
Research on heat storage differences between the upper body and lower body for paraplegic athletes is sparse
AB athletes were matched to spinal cord injuries (SCI) athletes based on activity status, VO2 peak, with 3 of the 8 AB being active participants in college wheelchair basketball
Analysis of variance indicated that mean skin temperature for the lower body (Msk) (Fig. 4) for SCI subjects was significantly higher than for AB throughout the exercise bout (p=0.006)
Summary
Research on heat storage differences between the upper body and lower body for paraplegic athletes is sparse. Able-bodied athletes), showed lower skin temperatures for the lower body after 90 minutes of work at 80% of peak heart rate (HR) in room temperature. Upper-body skin temperature was lower for the paraplegic group v. The authors speculated that this could be due to atrophied musculature and/or an atrophied vascular system below the level of lesion.[2] no information was provided on rectal or oesophageal temperatures (two accepted measures of core body temperature), so heat storage cannot be calculated for the upper-body and lower-body regions. This study was designed to describe heat storage in the upper and lower bodies of SCI and able-bodied (AB) athletes. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that SCI and AB athletes appear to thermoregulate in a similar manner, though SCI tend to store slightly more heat
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