Effects of Graduated Compression Stockings on Cardiovascular and Metabolic Responses to Exercise and Exercise Recovery in Persons With Spinal Cord Injury
Abstract
Rimaud D, Calmels P, Roche F, Mongold J-J, Trudeau F, Devillard X. Effects of graduated compression stockings on cardiovascular and metabolic responses to exercise and exercise recovery in persons with spinal cord injury.
Objective
To investigate whether reporting blood redistribution by means of graduated elastic stockings affects exercise and postexercise responses in people with spinal cord injury (SCI).
Design
Crossover trial.
Setting
Physical medicine and rehabilitation department in France.
Participants
Fourteen men with traumatic SCI, grouped according to their level of injury.
Interventions
Subjects performed 2 maximal wheelchair exercise tests 1 week apart, in random order and under a counter-balanced design. One test was done with and the other without graduated elastic stockings (21mmHg).
Main Outcome Measures
Blood lactate, blood pressure, heart rate, maximal power output, and oxygen consumption (V̇o2).
Results
Postexercise venous lactate concentration was reduced in SCI subjects with lesion levels below T6 while wearing graduated elastic stockings during both exercise and recovery (10.9±3.9mmol/L vs 12.5±4.6mmol/L, P<.05). There were no significant differences in submaximal and maximal values (heart rate, V̇o2, power output) between subjects tested with and without graduated elastic stockings.
Conclusions
Wearing elastic stockings affects postexercise responses by decreasing lactate concentration in well-trained, low-level paraplegic patients after a maximal exercise. The relatively low pressure generated by the stockings may not, however, influence the venous system enough to produce improved performance and cardiovascular responses.
aUnité de Recherche Physiologie et Physiopathologie de l’Exercice et Handicap, Faculté de Médecine Jacques Lisfranc, Université Jean Monnet, and Service de Médecine Physique et de Réadaptation, Hôpital Bellevue, Saint Etienne, France
cDépartement des Sciences de l’Activité Physique, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, QC, Canada.
Reprint requests to Diana Rimaud, MSc, Dept of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, CHU Saint Etienne; Hôpital Bellevue, 42055 Saint-Etienne, Cedex 2, France
Supported by the Centre of Medical Technology (Saint-Etienne, France) and Gibaud SAS (Saint-Etienne, France).
No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit upon the author(s) or upon any organization with which the author(s) is/are associated.
ABSTRACT