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Substrate metabolism during recovery from circuit resistance exercise in persons with spinal cord injury

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Abstract

Introduction

Whole body energy expenditure and lipid oxidation (Lox) are upregulated during and after exercise. Persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) generally have a blunted ability to utilize fat during exercise, but it is unknown if their substrate partitioning is affected during recovery from exercise.

Purpose

To determine the effect of a single session of upper body circuit resistance exercise (CRE) on energy expenditure and Lox during exercise recovery in persons with and without SCI.

Methods

Twenty four persons (3 groups; 7 male and 1 female per group) without paralysis (neurologically intact; N) or with chronic (≥ 1 yr) paraplegia (P) or tetraplegia (T) participated. Energy expenditure and substrate partitioning were assessed via indirect calorimetry before, during, and three times after (up to 120 min after) a single session of CRE, or time-matched seated control (CON).

Results

During CRE, all groups experienced a similar relative increase in oxygen consumption (49 ± 13, 55 ± 11, and 48 ± 15% VO2peak for N, P, and T, respectively). The Post0-120 energy expenditure was greater following CRE vs. CON (P < 0.01) and independent of injury characteristics (10.6, 22.6, and 14.3% higher than CON for N, P, and T; P = 0.21). The absolute increase in Lox above CON during recovery was similar for N, P, and T (5.74 ± 2.81, 6.62 ± 3.10, and 4.50 ± 3.91 g, respectively; P = 0.45).

Conclusions

Energy expenditure and lipid utilization was increased similarly following circuit exercise in persons without and with spinal cord injury in a manner independent of level of injury.

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The data maintained and managed by the authors of the study. The corresponding author can be contacted with requests to access data.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr. Gregory Bigford and Dr. Gregory Henderson for their insightful contributions to the manuscript. We also thank Mr. Doyle Freeman and Ms. Amariah Lem for their contributions to data collection and data analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Miami Project To Cure Paralysis, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA

    David W. McMillan & Mark S. Nash

  2. Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA

    David W. McMillan

  3. Department of Exercise and Nutritional Sciences, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA

    Jochen Kressler

  4. Department of Kinesiology and Sport Sciences, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA

    Kevin A. Jacobs

Authors
  1. David W. McMillan
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  2. Jochen Kressler
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  3. Kevin A. Jacobs
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  4. Mark S. Nash
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Contributions

DWM: contributed to study design, data collection, data analysis/interpretation, and manuscript original draft preparation; JK: contributed to study design, data collection, data analysis/interpretation, and manuscript review/editing; KAJ: contributed to data interpretation and manuscript review/editing; MSN: was the project supervisor and contributed to data interpretation and manuscript review/editing.

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Correspondence to David W. McMillan.

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The authors have no conflicts to report.

Ethical approval

This study was approved by the University of Miami School of Medicine institutional review board (IRB ID: 20140178).

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Communicated by Philip D. Chilibeck.

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McMillan, D.W., Kressler, J., Jacobs, K.A. et al. Substrate metabolism during recovery from circuit resistance exercise in persons with spinal cord injury. Eur J Appl Physiol 121, 1631–1640 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-021-04629-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-021-04629-0

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