“The integration of aerobic exercise in rehabilitation of a subacute inpatient with spinal cord injury: a case report”

INTRODUCTION: Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a complex condition that significantly impacts the patient'squality of life. The integration of Aerobic Training (AT) with Conventional Therapy (CT) during rehabilitation is often underestimated, despite its potential to prevent long-term complications. This study aims to evaluate the integration of AT into the CT program of a hospitalized patient with ASIA B tetraplegia. CASE PRESENTATION: A 25 year oldindividual with complete motor tetraplegia was admitted to the hospital in the sub-acute phase. AT sessionsintegrated with CT were performed twice daily, 5 days a week including three hydrokinesis and standing frame therapy sessions on weekends. AT was delivered using an upper limb cycle ergometer, consisting of 10 min of work at 20% of predicted heart rate (HR), 5 min of rest, and 5 min of work at 35% of predicted HR. The MRC scale, SCIM scaleand WHO-QOL questionnaire were administered before and after six days of combined CT and AT. Heart rate reserve (HRR), Respiratory rate (RR), rate of perceived exertion (RPE), blood pressure and SpO₂ were measured before and after each AT session. DISCUSSION: Despite the brief duration of the rehabilitation program, preliminary adaptations were observed in parameters such as RPE. These findings suggest that AT may play a valuable role in rehabilitation protocols for patients with SCI in the subacute phase. However, due to thesingle patient design and short duration of intervention (six-days), further research with larger sample sizes and longer follow-up is necessary to validate these results.