Changes in pulmonary function measures following a passive abdominal functional electrical stimulation training program

Objective To demonstrate the effect of a passive abdominal functional electrical stimulation (AFES) training program on unassisted respiratory measures in tetraplegia. Design Longitudinal feasibility study. Setting National spinal injuries unit in a university teaching hospital. Participants Twelve...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The journal of spinal cord medicine 2013-03, Vol.36 (2), p.97-103
Main Authors: McLachlan, Angus J., McLean, Alan N., Allan, David B., Gollee, Henrik
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abdominal Muscles - physiopathology
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Female
Functional electrical stimulation
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Paralysis
Quadriplegia - etiology
Quadriplegia - rehabilitation
Rehabilitation
Respiratory
Respiratory Function Tests
Respiratory Muscles - physiopathology
Spinal cord injuries
Spinal Cord Injuries - complications
Spinal Cord Injuries - rehabilitation
Tetraplegia
Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation - methods
Ventilatory capacity
Young Adult
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Summary:Objective To demonstrate the effect of a passive abdominal functional electrical stimulation (AFES) training program on unassisted respiratory measures in tetraplegia. Design Longitudinal feasibility study. Setting National spinal injuries unit in a university teaching hospital. Participants Twelve patients with tetraplegic spinal cord injury, who could breathe independently, with reduced vital capacity and no visible abdominal movement. Intervention Three weeks of abdominal muscle conditioning using transcutaneous AFES. Main outcome measures Forced vital capacity (FVC), forced exhaled volume in 1 second (FEV 1 ), peak expiratory flow rate (PEF), and maximum exhaled pressure (MEP). Results Mean (SD) FVC increased by 0.36 l (0.23) during training (P = 0.0027). Mean (SD) FEV 1 and PEF tended to increase by 0.18 l (0.16) and 0.39 l/seconds (0.35), respectively, but this was not significant. No significant change was found in the outcome measures during a 1-week pre-training control phase and during a 3-week post-training phase. Conclusions The increase in FVC over the training period and the absence of change before or after training suggest that passive abdominal FES training can be used for respiratory rehabilitation in tetraplegia.
ISSN:1079-0268
2045-7723
DOI:10.1179/2045772312Y.0000000031