Relation between oxygen uptake & power output during wheelchair ergometry in tetraplegics and paraplegics.

Twenty-one disabled subjects, who use a wheelchair as a normal means of locomotion, completed a continuous, increasing workrate test to subjective exhaustion on a wheelchair ergometer. The subjects were classified into tetraplegic (n = 8), high lesion paraplegic (n = 6), and low lesion paraplegic (n = 7) groups, and linear regression analyses to predict oxygen uptake (l/min) from power output (watts) were carried out for each group. Tetraplegics exhibited a non-significant correlation (r = .21) between power output and oxygen uptake. This was possibly due to their low maximal attainable oxygen uptake and limited range for these variables. A significant relationship was noted in both paraplegic groups (r = .93), and analysis indicated a lack of significant difference (p = .88) in the regression equations between the two groups. The high and low lesion paraplegic group measures were combined to produce a single regression equation given by VO2 (l/min) = .108 + .0267 X Power (watts).