Exercise-Induced Temperature Changes in the Tympanic Membrane and Skin of Patients with Spinal Cord Injury

The kinetics of thermoregulation mechanisms were observed in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) during exercise. Five patients with paraplegia (T4–T12/L1) due to spinal cord injury underwent arm cranking exercise after 60min of rest in the sitting position. The exercises were conducted with incremental increases (5 watts/min) in external workload starting at 0 watts (50rpm). They were performed in a climato-therapeutic chamber at 25°C and a relative humidity between 50%–60%. The patients were worked to exhaustion. Tympanic membrane (Tty) and the skin (Tsk; head, arms, chest, thigh, and shin) temperatures were measured at rest and during exercise. Results of the measurements showed that Tty in the SCI group was lower both at rest (36.15°–36.65°C) and during exercise (36.15°–36.70°C) than in the healthy control group. Tsk were also lower at all measured sites. The differences in the temperatures were especially marked at sites where dermal sensation was impaired such as the thighs and shins. It is concluded that the lower temperatures were due to disturbances in the input of thermal information to the thermoregulatory nucleus as well as the generation and modification of output command signals and responses with regard to the regulation of temperature which were caused by the spinal cord injury.