Effects of graduated compression stockings on cardiovascular and metabolic responses to exercise and exercise recovery in persons with spinal cord injury

Abstract

Objective: To investigate whether reporting blood redistribution by means of graduated elastic stockings affects exercise and postexercise responses in people with spinal cord injury (SCI).

Design: Crossover trial.

Setting: Physical medicine and rehabilitation department in France.

Participants: Fourteen men with traumatic SCI, grouped according to their level of injury.

Interventions: Subjects performed 2 maximal wheelchair exercise tests 1 week apart, in random order and under a counter-balanced design. One test was done with and the other without graduated elastic stockings (21 mmHg).

Main outcome measures: Blood lactate, blood pressure, heart rate, maximal power output, and oxygen consumption (Vo2).

Results: Postexercise venous lactate concentration was reduced in SCI subjects with lesion levels below T6 while wearing graduated elastic stockings during both exercise and recovery (10.9+/-3.9 mmol/L vs 12.5+/-4.6 mmol/L, P<.05). There were no significant differences in submaximal and maximal values (heart rate, Vo2, power output) between subjects tested with and without graduated elastic stockings.

Conclusions: Wearing elastic stockings affects postexercise responses by decreasing lactate concentration in well-trained, low-level paraplegic patients after a maximal exercise. The relatively low pressure generated by the stockings may not, however, influence the venous system enough to produce improved performance and cardiovascular responses.