Body composition changes after 12 months of FES cycling: case report of a 60-year-old female with paraplegia.

STUDY

DESIGN

Single-subject (female, 60 years of age) case.

OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this case report is to document body composition changes in a 60-year-old female with chronic paraplegia after 12 months of home-based functional electrical stimulation lower extremities cycling (FES-LEC).

SETTING

Home-based FES-LEC with internet connection. Southeastern United States.

METHODS

FES-LEC three sessions per week for 12 months in participant's home and monitored by the research staff via internet connection. Pre- and post-exercise program testing for body composition including percent body fat, fat mass (FM), lean mass (LM) and whole-body bone mineral density (BMD) via dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA).

RESULTS

There was a 7.7% increase in total body LM and a 4.1% increase in legs LM. There was a 1.2% decrease in total body FM and a 9.9% decrease in legs FM. Percent body fat decreased from 48.4 to 46.3 and whole-body BMD was increased from 0.934 to 1.023, which resulted in an improvement in the DXA T-score from -2.4 to -1.3.

CONCLUSION

Positive body compositional changes during this study support the idea that long-term FES-LEC can help restore healthier ratios of LM and FM and possibly decrease the risk of associated diseases. Increased whole-body BMD provides hope that long-term FES-LEC may be beneficial regarding bone health.