Assessment of Functional Efficiency of Autonomic Nervous System in SCI Subjects Using RR Variability

Although, good number of advanced modalities is available for diagnosis, there is no device that can measure functional efficiency of autonomic nervous systems in spinal cord injured subjects. There has been tremendous increase in number of spinal cord injured (SCI) patients around the world due to variety of reasons. The treatment of the spinal cord injury patient is mainly related to physical activity like: exercise, standing practice, balance control, etc. Cardiovascular health is most important issue for SCI patients today. Considering this, an attempt has been made to bring out a relation between percentage functioning of autonomic nervous systems and RR variability. Efforts have been made to define the efficiency of the spinal cord or ANS on the basis of components s, p, and n. They represent functioning of sympathetic, parasympathetic and ANS respectively. Component values are in percentage between 0 and 100. It is observed that the suggested model efficiently presents status of autonomic nervous system and the impact of injury on the spinal cord.