There is limited evidence that BWSTT can improve indicators of cardiovascular health in individuals with complete and incomplete SCI.
Persons with tetraplegia and paraplegia can improve their cardiovascular fitness and physical work capacity through moderate intensities of aerobic exercise or resistance training, although optimal program parameters are not known.
Interventions that involve FES training a minimum of 3 days per week for 2 months can improve muscular endurance, oxidative metabolism, exercise tolerance, and cardiovascular fitness.
Aerobic and FES exercise training may lead to clinically significant improvements in glucose homeostasis in persons with SCI. Preliminary evidence indicates that a minimum of 30 min of moderate intensity training 3 days per week is required to achieve and/or maintain the benefits from exercise training.
Aerobic and FES exercise training may lead to improvements in lipid lipoprotein profiles that are clinically relevant for the at-risk SCI population. The optimal training program for changes in lipid lipoprotein profiles remains to be determined. However, a minimal aerobic exercise intensity of 70% of heart rate reserve on most days of the week appears to be a good general recommendation for improving lipid lipoprotein profiles in persons with SCI.