Objective
Adapt the 6 minutes walking test (6MWT) to artificial gait in complete spinal cord injured (SCI) patients aided by neuromuscular electrical stimulation.
Method
Nine male individuals with paraplegia (AIS A) participated in this study. Lesion levels varied between T4 and T12 and time post injured from 4 to 13 years. Patients performed 6MWT 1 and 6MWT 2. They used neuromuscular electrical stimulation, and were aided by a walker. The differences between two 6MWT were assessed by using a paired t test. Multiple r-squared was also calculated.
Results
The 6MWT 1 and 6MWT 2 were not statistically different for heart rate, distance, mean speed and blood pressure. Multiple r-squared (r2 = 0.96) explained 96% of the variation in the distance walked.
Conclusion
The use of 6MWT in artificial gait towards assessing exercise walking capacity is reproducible and easy to apply. It can be used to assess SCI artificial gait clinical performance.
spinal cord injury; walking; rehabilitation; paraplegia