Gait Inefficiency in Paraplegia

A great deal has been written about energy consumption in paraplegia with the bulk of the literature centreing on the effects of either functional electrical stimulation or above knee orthoses or a combination of the two.

Waters et al documented the 'natural history' of energy consumption in paraplegia with a study of 151 subjects.

Swing through gait was found to be very inefficient and all patients benefited from the use of knee-foot-ankle orthoses. The common outcome after gait retraining is wheelchair use as the primary means of locomotion owing to its significant advantages with respect to speed and efficiency.

Reference

R. L. Waters and B. R. Lunsford. Energy cost of paraplegic locomotion, J Bone Joint Surg Am, 1985,67;1245-50