Energy expenditure of ambulation in paraplegics: effects of long term use of bracing.

Energy metabolism data were collected in a series of seven male paraplegic patients with complete spinal cord lesions (T9 to L1). Among these four had just been rehabilitated and three had been using their bilateral long leg braces for more than 4 years. A group of five healthy volunteers was used as a control. All the subjects ambulated on a treadmill between parallel bars and in a second trial they ambulated on the floor using forearm crutches. Mean O2 consumption was 1.46 ml O2/kg/m for the unaccustomed paraplegics who had never used long-leg braces before, 0.61 for paraplegics used to walking with braces, and 0.83 for the healthy subjects walking between parallel bars with a swing-through gait. The second trial (on the floor), showed a mean O2 consumption of 0.73 ml O2/kg/m for the paraplegic brace-user with a high heart rate (156/min). This mean O2 consumption was much lower than the values of the paraplegic non-user and slightly higher than the normal subjects.