Effect of variable loading in the determination of upper-limb anaerobic power in persons with tetraplegia

This article examines the effects of levels of resistance loading during arm Wingate Anaerobic Testing (WAnT) in persons with differing levels of cervical spinal cord injury (SCI). Thirty-nine persons with motor-complete SCI tetraplegia (13 each at C5, C6, and C7) performed six bouts of arm-crank WAnT with relative loads equivalent to 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0, and 3.5 percent of body mass (BM). Power output was determined with the use of the SMI OptoSensor 2000 (Sports Medicine Industries, Inc., St. Cloud, MN, USA) hardware and software package. Values of peak power (P(peak)) and mean power (P(mean)) were examined statistically between groups (C5, C6, and C7) and across levels of resistance loading. Resistance loads that provided the greatest values of P(mean) for the three groups were as follows: C5 = 1.0 or 1.5 percent of BM; C6 = 1.5 or 2.0 percent of BM; and C7 = 2.5, 3.0, or 3.5 percent of BM. Appropriate loading for arm WAnT is specific to the level of tetraplegia and may provide a useful assessment of upper limb power production.