Impact of upper-body ergometer rowing exercise on aerobic fitness and cardiometabolic disease risk in individuals with spinal cord injury: A 6-month follow-up study.

We recently demonstrated that upper-body rowing exercise (UBROW) improved aerobic fitness in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI), with no effect on traditional cardiometabolic risk factors. Here, we tested the hypothesis that the exercise-induced increase in aerobic fitness was maintained at 6-month (6M) follow-up. Six-month follow-up. University/hospital. Seventeen wheelchair-dependent participants with SCI. 12-week of exercise training (UBROW) or control (CON). Aerobic fitness (PO and V̇O), body composition, blood pressure, and blood biomarkers of cardiometabolic risk were assessed at 6M follow-up and compared to baseline (BL) and immediately post-intervention (12-week). Minutes of mild, moderate, and heavy intensity leisure time physical activity (LTPA) were assessed by self-report. Fourteen participants returned at 6M follow-up (CON,  = 6; UBROW,  = 8). In UBROW, PO (median (Q1-Q3)) increased from BL (70 W (37-84)) to 12-week (77 W (58-109), P = 0.01) and 6M follow-up (81 W (51-96), P = 0.01), with no difference between 12-week and 6M follow-up (P = 0.21). Similarly, V̇O increased from BL (15.4 ml/kg/min (10.5-19.4)) to 12-week (16.6 ml/kg/min (12.8-21.3), P = 0.01) with no difference between 12-week and 6M follow-up (16.3 ml/kg/min (12.9-19.7), P = 0.74). No differences were found in CON for either PO (P = 0.22) or V̇O (P = 0.27). There were no changes over time in traditional cardiometabolic risk factors or for minutes of different LTPA intensities. We demonstrate that improvements in aerobic fitness are maintained for at least six months after completion of a 12-week exercise intervention, supporting the use of periodic exercise interventions to boost aerobic fitness level in individuals with SCI. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT04390087..