Abstract
Objective
To ascertain the effect of arm cranking exercise on improving plasma levels of inflammatory
cytokines and adipokines in untrained adults with chronic spinal cord injury (SCI).
Design
Longitudinal study.
Setting
Community-based supervised intervention.
Participants
Men (N=17) with complete SCI at or below T5 volunteered for this study. Participants
were randomly allocated to the intervention (n=9) or control group (n=8) using a concealed
method.
Intervention
A 12-week arm cranking exercise program of 3 sessions per week consisted of warm-up
(10–15min), arm crank (20–30min; increasing 2min and 30s every 3wk) at a moderate
work intensity of 50% to 65% of heart rate reserve (starting at 50% and increasing
5% every 3wk), and cool-down (5–10min).
Main Outcome Measures
Plasma levels of leptin, adiponectin, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, tumor necrosis
factor-alpha, and interleukin-6 were determined. Furthermore, physical fitness (maximum
oxygen consumption [O2max]) and body composition (anthropometric index, waist circumference, and body mass
index) were also assessed.
Results
Plasma levels of leptin, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and interleukin-6 were significantly
decreased after the completion of the training program. Similarly, the anthropometric
index and waist circumference were diminished too. A moderate correlation was found
between leptin and the anthropometric index. Finally, O2max was significantly increased, suggesting an improvement of physical fitness in
the intervention group. No changes were found in the control group.
Conclusions
Arm cranking exercise improved low-grade systemic inflammation by decreasing plasma
levels of inflammatory cytokines. Furthermore, it also reduced plasma leptin levels.
Long-term, well-conducted studies are still required to determine whether these changes
may improve clinical outcomes of adults with chronic SCI.
Keywords
List of abbreviations:
AI (anthropometric index), BMI (body mass index), IL-6 (interleukin-6), PAI-1 (plasminogen activator inhibitor-1), SCI (spinal cord injury), TNF-α (tumor necrosis factor-alpha), V˙o2max (maximum oxygen consumption), WC (waist circumference)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: September 23, 2013
Footnotes
No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit on the authors or on any organization with which the authors are associated.
Identification
Copyright
© 2014 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
