Resistance Training and Muscle Strength in people with Spinal cord injury: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Feasibility of an Upper Limb Strength Training Program in Persons with Spinal Cord Injury during Primary Rehabilitation—An Uncontrolled Interventional Study

“…Unfortunately, there was no differentiation between the groups with chronic and acute SCI. Although this limits a direct comparison with our data and warrants further studies in people with acute SCI, it seems noteworthy to state that strength training is safe and feasible [ 18 ] and should and could be started even during primary rehabilitation. In this context, a clearly defined, supervised and standardized individual strength-training program can lead to significant improvements in maximal strength—a fact which was confirmed by our findings.…”

“…However, the resistance used in this study corresponded to 75% of the 1RM, compared to the 50–60% of the 1RM in our previous study and the two other studies mentioned above. In general, several review articles have been published, which have shown that individuals with SCIs can achieve significant strength gains after an isolated strength-training intervention or experience benefits in strength as well as in general physical fitness if strength and endurance training are combined [ 7 , 9 , 13 , 18 , 20 , 23 , 24 , 29 , 30 ]. However, two reviews have shown [ 9 , 18 ] that most training studies are performed in individuals with chronic SCI and concluded that data for people with acute SCI (<1 year) are scarce, which makes a direct comparison of our data with most other studies difficult.…”

“…In general, several review articles have been published, which have shown that individuals with SCIs can achieve significant strength gains after an isolated strength-training intervention or experience benefits in strength as well as in general physical fitness if strength and endurance training are combined [ 7 , 9 , 13 , 18 , 20 , 23 , 24 , 29 , 30 ]. However, two reviews have shown [ 9 , 18 ] that most training studies are performed in individuals with chronic SCI and concluded that data for people with acute SCI (<1 year) are scarce, which makes a direct comparison of our data with most other studies difficult. However, in an older study [ 12 ], a group of eight individuals with chronic and five individuals with acute paraplegia were investigated.…”

“…The consequence of these improvements is a positive impact on the functioning and participation of these individuals, leading to a better quality of life [ 8 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ]. In addition to these positive effects, a recently published review article [ 18 ] concluded that strength training in individuals with SCI is safe and feasible.…”

“…During such a training session, the big muscle groups—which are important for activities of daily life—should be preferentially trained [ 5 , 9 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 ]. However, several reviews [ 9 , 18 , 24 ] have emphasized that these training recommendations are mainly based on studies with individuals suffering from chronic SCI. Thus, there seems to be an urgent need to also investigate such training recommendations and their effects in individuals with acute SCI and during early rehabilitation [ 9 ], as these matters have not been clearly established during the early stages of SCI by the existing literature so far.…”