Functional Electrical Stimulation vs

Fourteen Spinal Cord Injured (SCI) and 15 Ablebodied (AB) individuals participated in two 30 minutes (min) standing sessions. The control groups (SCICONT, ABCONT) consisted of both AB and SCI standing still with no muscle contraction. The experimental groups consisted of both SCI subjects (SCIEXP) standing with use of Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES)-induced muscle activation of four lower limb muscle groups and AB subjects (ABEXP) standing while performing tiptoe exercises for 30 min. A computerized impedance cardiograph was used to measure the changes of heart rate (HR), stroke volume (SV), cardiac output (CO), systolic, diastolic and mean arterial blood pressure (SBP, DBP, MAP) and total peripheral resistance (TPR) during sitting, and at 0, 5 and 30 min of standing. Change in position from sitting to standing caused significant drop in SBP, DBP, and MAP during SCICONT, while these values were maintained during SCIEXP. There were no significant changes in AB subjects in BP values. During SCIEXP standing, SCI maintained their hemodynamics at pre standing values at 5 min and 30-min post standing. These values decreased significantly during SCICONT, while TPR increased. The Able-bodied (AB) responded during ABCONT by a significant drop in SV and CO while TPR only increased at 30 min of standing. It was concluded that FES has equal or even better effect on improving blood circulation during standing than voluntary activation of the physiologic muscle pump and may be used to improve tolerance to tilting and standing in SC