Research
Energy balance
Persons with chronic spinal cord injury, particularly those with tetraplegia and complete lesions, have significantly lower physical activity levels than able-bodied individuals, contributing to obesity.
Standard daily tasks like pressure relief and bowel programs are sedentary and do not burn significant calories. To prevent obesity, you must engage in structured physical activity (exercise) to increase your total daily energy expenditure.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Physical activity levels, especially in those with tetraplegia and complete lesions, are lower than recommended or lower than those of able-bodied persons.
Why this rating
Supported by multiple studies using heart rate telemetry and respiratory chambers, though free-living data is limited.
Source
Energy expenditure in chronic spinal cord injury
Andrea C. Buchholz et al. · Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition & Metabolic Care · 2004
DOI 10.1097/00075197-200411000-00008
narrative_reviewCited 177×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Standard predictive equations for resting metabolic rate (RMR) overestimate energy requirements in chronic spinal cord injury (SCI) patients by 5–32%, primarily due to reduced fat-free mass and altered sympathetic nervous system activity.Good
- Resting metabolic rate (RMR) in SCI patients is lower than in able-bodied individuals, but this difference is largely explained by reduced fat-free mass and altered sympathetic nervous system activity, not by an inherent inefficiency of fat-free tissue.Good
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