Increase in interleukin-6 immediately after wheelchair basketball games in persons with spinal cord injury: preliminary report

Study design: Case series. Objectives: To investigate the effects of wheelchair basketball game on plasma interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), C-reactive protein (CRP) and blood cell counts in persons with spinal cord injury (SCI). Setting: The 2009 Mei-shin League of Wheelchair Basketball Games held at Wakayama, Japan. Participants: Five wheelchair basketball players with SCI voluntarily participated in this study. Interventions: Blood samples were taken approximately 1 h before the player warm-up for the game and immediately after the game. Main outcome measures: IL-6, TNF-α, CRP and blood cell count were measured. Results: Plasma IL-6 level and number of monocytes were significantly increased after the game, compared with pre-game measurements ( P <0.05). No changes were observed in other measurements. There was a significant relationship between increased IL-6 levels and accumulated play duration. Conclusion: The lack of change in TNF-α and CRP levels suggested that the exercise-induced rise in IL-6 was not related to exercise-induced inflammatory response. Furthermore, the associated increase in the number of monocytes did not correlate with exercise-induced IL-6 changes, negating monocytes as the source of IL-6.