Objective: People with spinal cord injuries (SCIs), are at risk for cardiorespiratory illnesses because sedentary life. The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of eight weeks of aerobic exercise on cardiovascular, respiratory and lipid profiles in spinal cord injured individuals.

Materials & Methods: Twenty spinal cord injured individuals above 70% level of disability (49.9 ± 4.5 years old, and 25.9 ± 1.8 years of SCI, BMI 25.03 ± 3.9 kg/m2) randomly divided into two trained and sedentary control groups. Systolic and diastolic blood pressures, VC, FEVI, HDL-C, LDL-C and fasting blood glucose were measured before and after the program, 8-week exercise training program (aerobic exercise, 30 min/day, 3 days/week) for two groups. The collected data were analyzed using the Repeated Measure test at the significant level of P<0.05 (P<0.05).

Results: Systolic blood pressure and LDL-C decreased significantly after exercise in trained group (P=0.004, P=0.02). The levels of VC (P=0.01), FEV1 (P=0.031), HDL-C (P=0.004) increased significantly after exercise. There was no significant difference in these variables between two groups (P>0.05).

Conclusion: Given the data obtained from current study, it seems that a course of exercise (8 weeks) could cause improvement in cardiovascular, respiratory and lipid profiles of individuals with spinal cord injury.