Research

Hormonal

Six months of body-weight-supported treadmill (BWST) training significantly improves blood glucose regulation and insulin sensitivity in individuals with incomplete spinal cord injury by increasing muscle GLUT-4 content, hexokinase activity, and glucose oxidation.

If you have an incomplete spinal cord injury, you can still improve your blood sugar control through exercise. Body-weight-supported treadmill training, where a harness helps support your weight while you walk, is effective. Doing this three times a week for six months can significantly lower your glucose and insulin levels after eating by helping your muscles process sugar better.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Six months of thrice-weekly body-weight-supported treadmill training in persons with an incomplete spinal cord injury improved blood glucose regulation by increasing oxidation and storage of an oral glucose load. Increases in the capacity for transport and phosphorylation glucose in skeletal muscle likely play a role in these adaptations.
Stuart M. Phillips et al. · Journal of Applied Physiology · 2004

Why this rating

Small sample size (n=9) but rigorous within-subject design with metabolic tracing.

Source

Body-weight-support treadmill training improves blood glucose regulation in persons with incomplete spinal cord injury

Stuart M. Phillips et al. · Journal of Applied Physiology · 2004

DOI 10.1152/japplphysiol.00167.2004

clinical_trial · n=9Cited 72×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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