Electrical stimulation-evoked resistance exercise therapy improves arterial health after chronic spinal cord injury.

STUDY DESIGN: Repeated measures training intervention. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effects of neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES)-induced resistance exercise therapy on lower extremity arterial health in individuals with chronic, complete spinal cord injury (SCI). We define "arterial health" using three surrogate markers: (a) resting diameter, (b) flow-mediated dilation (FMD), and (c) arterial range. SETTING: Department of Kinesiology, University of Georgia, USA. METHODS: We assessed five 36+/-5-year-old male individuals with chronic, complete SCI before, during, and after 18 weeks of training. The quadriceps femoris muscle group of both legs were trained twice a week with 4 x 10 repetitions of unilateral, dynamic knee extensions. The health of the posterior tibial artery was assessed using a B-mode ultrasound unit equipped with a high-resolution video capture device. Proximal occlusion was used to evoke ischemia for 5 min and then for 10 min. FMD was calculated using the peak diameter change (above rest) following 5 min occlusion. Arterial range was calculated using minimum (during occlusion) and maximum diameters (post 10 min occlusion). Hierarchical linear modeling accounted for the nested (repeated measures) experimental design. RESULTS: FMD improved from 0.08+/-0.11 mm (2.7%) to 0.18+/-0.15 mm (6.6%) (P=0.004), and arterial range improved from 0.36+/-0.28 to 0.94+/-0.40 mm (P=0.001), after 18 weeks of training. Resting diameter did not significantly change. CONCLUSIONS: Home-based, self-administered NMES resistance exercise therapy consisting of 80 contractions/week improved FMD and arterial range. This provides evidence that resistance exercise therapy can improve arterial health after SCI, which may reduce the risk of future cardiovascular disease.

[Low intensity laser irradiation in therapy of elderly patients with occlusive artery diseases]. / Nizkointensivnoe lazernoe izluchenie pri lechenii okkliuzionnykh zabolevanii arterii u liudei starshykh vozrastnykh grupp.

Shown in the paper is a novel complex approach to the treatment of occlusion affections of arteries by He-Ne and infrared laseropuncture. As many as 80 patients having a history of the above health problem 5 years in duration were kept under medical supervision. Patient age ranged between 50 to 78 years. Laseropuncture was carried out with the aid of the infrared laser stimulator [symbol: see text]-001 (wavelenth 0.89 mm with continuous-wave pulse operation, pulse power 8 W) and 111 He-Ne laser (wavelength 0.63 mm, power density 5 mW/cm2, spot diameter 25 mm). 88.2 percent of patients derived apparent therapeutic benefit, 11.8 percent demonstrating a satisfactory clinical effect.