Cardiorespiratory fitness and arm bone mineral health in young males with spinal cord injury: the mediator role of lean mass.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) derives in loss of bone mineral content (BMC) and bone mineral density (BMD). However, physical activity is an important determinant in bone mass acquisition, which is partially mediated through the lean mass (LM). The aim was to examine the effect of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) on BMD and BMC arms of adult males with SCI and able-bodied controls using the arm LM as a mediator variable.

Novel kinematic indices for quantifying movement agility and smoothness after cervical Spinal Cord Injury.

Background: After cervical Spinal Cord Injury (SCI), upper limb movements made by patients have a lack of smoothness and a hand velocity profile characterized by a high number of velocity peaks.

Objective: The aim of the present paper is to propose three novel kinematic indices for quantifying movement agility and smoothness, and to analyze their discriminative capability between healthy and pathological people.

Methods: 18 people, healthy and two groups of patients with cervical SCI, participated in the study.

Quantitative assessment based on kinematic measures of functional impairments during upper extremity movements: A review.

Background: Quantitative measures of human movement quality are important for discriminating healthy and pathological conditions and for expressing the outcomes and clinically important changes in subjects' functional state. However the most frequently used instruments for the upper extremity functional assessment are clinical scales, that previously have been standardized and validated, but have a high subjective component depending on the observer who scores the test. But they are not enough to assess motor strategies used during movements, and their use in combination with other more objective measures is necessary.

Comparative ergonomic assessment of manual wheelchairs by paraplegic users.

Purpose: The aim of the present study was to describe and test the reliability of a comprehensive product-centered approach to assessing functional performance and wheelchair user perceptions on device ergonomics and satisfaction of performance. A pilot study was implemented using this approach to evaluate differences among four manual wheelchairs.

Method: Six wheelchair users with complete spinal cord injury (SCI) at the thoracic level and with no previous upper limbs impairment were recruited for this study.