Exoskeleton Training and Trans-Spinal Stimulation for Physical Activity Enhancement After Spinal Cord Injury (EXTra-SCI): An Exploratory Study.
Tommy W Sutor, Mina P Ghatas, Lance L Goetz and 2 others
PMID 35169770WHAT IT FOUND
Eight men with chronic spinal cord injury walked with an exoskeleton for 12 weeks.
Waist and abdominal measurements and total-body percent fat mass decreased, but oxygen consumption did not change. Muscle activity and trans-spinal stimulation effects were exploratory and highly variable.
Key findings
01After 12 weeks of exoskeleton-assisted walking, total-body percent fat mass decreased from 29.3% to 27.9%.
02Peak oxygen consumption did not change after training for sitting, standing, walking, or recovery.
03Trans-spinal stimulation was tested in three participants, and its EMG and step outcomes were presented without statistical testing.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
Only eight men were enrolled, and the paper does not report a control group, so it cannot show that exoskeleton training caused the changes. Two participants did not complete post-intervention testing because pandemic research stopped, and missing values were filled with multiple imputation. Trans-spinal stimulation was tested in only three participants, and EMG and step outcomes were not analyzed statistically. Diet and physical activity outside the study were not controlled, so body composition changes may have had other causes. EMG methods changed after the first participant, and post-training EMG data were unavailable for two participants.
Declared interests
This work was funded by the Department of Veteran Affairs-SPiRE Program and a DoD-CDMRP clinical trial program award. The authors declared no commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the body composition changes as proof that exoskeleton training improves cardiovascular fitness. Oxygen consumption did not change, the study had no control group, and trans-spinal stimulation was tested in only three participants and reported without statistical testing.