Supine arm cycling during the post-flap recovery period for persons with spinal cord injuries: The multi-purpose arm cycle ergometer (M-PACE) safety and pilot testing.

To describe how using a supine arm cycle ergometer can safely reduce deconditioning experienced by patients with spinal cord injury or disorder (SCI/D) during their four to six weeks of complete bed rest after surgery to close a stage 4 pressure injury. This pilot project used a newly designed arm cycle ergometer (known as the M-PACE) that extends over the bed, allowing a patient to lie completely supine while exercising. The M-PACE was designed and built at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Health Care System (MVAHCS) and pilot tested at the MVAHCS SCI/D Center. Patients with SCI/D, recovering from flap surgery and deemed appropriate to use the arm cycle ergometer were enrolled in the pilot study ( A pre-post six-minute arm test (6MAT), a proxy for conditioning, was conducted on a subset ( The 6MAT RPE was significantly reduced after training with the M-PACE while on bed rest (