Muscle and Bone Changes After 6 Months of FES Cycling

Six months of FES-cycling trainings twice a week is performed for each pilot. Each session includes at most 30 minutes of stimulation. At the beginning of the training period, a conditioning phase is performed until the pilot reaches pedalling autonomy. This period is also used to define the stimulation parameters (minimum and maximum values of current intensity and pulse width), reference cadence and gear, specific for the ability of each pilot. Then the training period starts and is performed indoor, setting the resistance of the smart trainer at 10% for all the participants. The sessions are organized as follows: a 3-minute warmup followed by four sets of 6 minutes of pedalling and a 3-minute cool down.