Disabled sports and physiological specificity in persons with spinal cord injury

• Published in: The Journal of Physical Fitness and Sports Medicine 2014/07/25, Vol.3(3), pp.335-339
• Main Authors: Nakamura, Takeshi, Furusawa, Kazunari, Kouda, Ken, Nishimura, Yukihide, Sasaki, Yusuke, Umemoto, Yasunori, Banno, Motohiko, Ogawa, Takahiro, Kawasaki, Takashi, Ito, Tomoyuki, Mitsui, Toshihito, Tajima, Fumihiro
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: adrenaline; cortisol; Interleukin-6; natural killer cell activity; sympathetic nervous system; tumor necrosis factor-α
• ISSN: 2186-8131; 2186-8123
• DOI: 10.7600/jpfsm.3.335

Today, a large proportion of persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) can return to society thanks to advances in biomedical care. Various sports activities are recommended, especially for wheelchair-bound disabled persons with SCI, in order to maintain proper physical fitness. It is important to know sports activities-induced physiological specificity in persons with SCI before recommending sports activities. Natural killer cell activity (NKCA) is commonly used to study immune response during exercise. Interleukin (IL)-6 is produced by contracting skeletal muscles and then released into the circulation; and is considered to mediate the health benefits of exercise against chronic diseases. We investigated the responses of NKCA and IL-6 in SCI persons during arm exercise and a wheelchair marathon race. Similar NKCA and IL-6 responses were found in thoracolumbar SCI persons and able-bodied (AB) persons. On the other hand, changes in NKCA and IL-6 in cervical SCI persons elicited different characteristic patterns compared to thoracolumbar SCI and AB persons.