Early exercise therapy in patients with severe traumatic spinal cord injury: is it feasible in the ICU?

Following traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI), patients remain immobilized in the intensive care unit (ICU) and the wards for several weeks before they are transferred to rehabilitation [1]. In this context, the PROMPT-SCI trial is the first trial designed to evaluate the safety and feasibility of EET in patients with acute severe TSCI The intervention consisted of daily 30-min sessions of continuous passive in-bed leg cycling for 14 consecutive days, starting within 48 h of surgery based on the initiation criteria described in Table 1.

• 1
  This study supports the safety and feasibility of passive in-bed leg cycling in ICU patients with severe TSCI.
• 2
  Forty participants initiated the 14-day protocol in the ICU within 3 days of the SCI.
• 3
  Also, of our 40 ICU participants, 3 were mechanically ventilated during the protocol. While 2 initiated cycling only 72 h post-op, these 3 patients had a 100% completion rate with no deviation to the protocol thereafter.