Acute Response to One Bout of Dynamic Standing Exercise on Blood Glucose and Blood Lactate Among Children and Adolescents With Cerebral Palsy Who are Nonambulant

PURPOSE: To investigate the acute exercise effects of dynamic standing exercise on blood glucose and blood lactate among children and adolescents with cerebral palsy who are nonambulant.

METHODS: Twenty-four participants with cerebral palsy who are nonambulant performed 30 minutes of dynamic standing exercise using a motorized device enabling assisted passive movements in an upright weight-bearing position. Capillary blood samples were taken from the fingertip for measurement of blood glucose and blood lactate at rest and at the end of exercise.

RESULTS: At rest, the participants had hyperlactatemia that was unaffected after exercise, presented as median and interquartile range at rest 1.8 (1.3:2.7) mmol/L, and after exercise 2.0 (1.1:2.5) mmol/L. Children and adolescents with Gross Motor Function Classification System, level V, had higher lactate levels at rest (2.5 [1.8:2.9] vs 1.4 [1.0:2.0]; P = .030) and after exercise (2.3 [2.0:2.6] vs 1.2 [0.9:2.2]; P = .032) compared with children and adolescents with Gross Motor Function Classification System, level IV, respectively. A statistically significant larger decrease in blood lactate levels after exercise was observed in children and adolescents with higher resting blood lactate levels (ρ = .56; P = .004). There were no statistically significant changes in blood glucose.

CONCLUSIONS: Forty percentage of the participants had mild hyperlactatemia at rest and participants with the highest blood lactate levels at rest had the greatest decrease in blood lactate levels after one bout of exercise. Children and adolescents who were classified with the highest level of the Gross Motor Function Classification Scale had higher blood lactate levels. More studies are needed on how to prevent chronically high resting levels of lactate with exercise in children with cerebral palsy who are nonambulant.