Influence of BWSTT For Individuals With Incomplete SCI: Metabolic Demands and EMG Profiles

Abstract

Body weight supported treadmill training (BWSTT) is being promoted as an effective means of restoring ambulatory abilities among individuals with incomplete spinal cord injuries. The emphasis of this thesis is on the description of the metabolic demands and the EMG profiles of able-bodied persons and individuals with a spinal cord injury (SCI) while walking under the identical conditions on a body weight support (BWS) treadmill. The secondary purpose was to contrast the metabolic and muscular responses between the two groups. Two separate chapters describing the metabolic demands and EMG profiles respectively follow the review of the literature. The metabolic results indicate that raising the speed and/or decreasing the amount of BWS increase the intensity of BWS treadmill walking, with speed having a more profound effect. The SCI group was less efficient and they had greater metabolic rates of oxygen consumption than the controls for all conditions examined. This led to the conclusion that walking on the treadmill, for the SCI group can provide an effective aerobic exercise stimulus. The EMG profiles suggest that speed and BWS affect the phasic characteristics of the muscular activity while walking for both groups. Furthermore, abnormalities, omissions and inappropriate levels of activity were observed in the SCI group when compared to the controls. These irregularities suggest that the SCI participants have adopted altered motor strategies while walking, relative to the control group. Nonetheless, the SCI participants showed evidence of appropriate modulations in their EMG activity to meet the demands of the task as they changed from one condition to the next.