BACKGROUND

    Soon after a spinal cord injury (SCI), the muscles of the affected limbs begin atrophying. This is due to a shift away from Type I slow muscle fibers towards Type II fast-fatiguing fibers. This means that the muscles fatigue very quickly in addition to becoming smaller and smaller.
    After SCI, reflexes also become hyperactive and the patients develop “hyperreflexia”, or exaggerated reflexes. The hyperreflexia adds to another condition known as “spasticity”.
    The Motorized Bicycle Exercise Trainer (MBET) was developed because research at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) found that muscle mass could be restored and reflexes normalized by MBET in animal experiments.
    Investigators at the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neuroscience Institute at UAMS developed and patented a MBET for SCI patients. The first trials on SCI patients have been extremely successful.

CASE STUDY

    The figure below shows that the reflexes of a 23 year-old SCI victim one year after the injury were at about 65%, or hyperreflexive. A non-injured individual would have reflexes at less than 25% (red line). After 8-10 weeks of MBET training of 5 days/week for 1 hr/day, reflexes began to normalize and remained normal

throughout the remaining training. This means that MBET can be used to reduce hyperreflexia. The results have been published in the Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine.
    We do not yet know if it can a) be used less than 5 days/week and have a similar effect, b) increase muscle mass as it did in animal experiments, or c) reduce spasticity, although there is anecdotal evidence that spasticity was reduced after MBET. These lines of investigation are being actively pursued.
    After 13 weeks, MBET was stopped and reflexes were measured weekly. After 2-3 weeks, the reflexes had once again become hyperreflexive. This means that MBET must be used continuously, but we are trying to determine how many times per week are necessary to maintain the reduction in hyperreflexia.

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