Thermoregulatory set point in patients with spinal cord injuries (spinal man).

The thermoregulatory set point in man can be estimated by the aid of quantifying thermal alliesthesial responses. Behavioural and autonomous thermoregulation in a group of nine patients with spinal cord transection was compared against a control group of six non-disabled under various room-climate conditions. Deviation of core temperature from thermoregulatory set point was estimated using a behavioural indicator (thermal alliesthesial responses) at different intervals of the exposure time. General thermal comfort sensation was rated on a subjective thermal comfort scale. The group with spinal cord transections showed, as expected, a state of partial poikilothermia. Mean skin temperature was approximately the same in both groups, but skin temperature distribution was different in the spinal cord transection when compared against the control group. The results of thermal alliesthesial responses indicated that core temperature for those with spinal cord transections were closer to their thermoregulatory set points than in the control group. It has been concluded that under conditions beyond thermal neutrality the spinal man may possess, some time after the injury, a thermoregulatory set point which varies directly with ambient thermal conditions. This phenomenon is viewed as an adaptive thermoregulatory process following spinal cord injury.