[jilebedev]

> When able-bodied competitors engage in hard physical activities like running or swimming, blood pressure and heart rate increase automatically. Athletes with spinal injuries do not get that response.

Can anyone explain why a spinal cord injury would render a human unable to raise their blood pressure through strenuous physical exercise? It doesn't seem to make sense.

[jaggederest]

To summarize what I understand from the Wikipedia article, the neurons involved are located between the T1 and L1 levels of the spinal cord. If you have a spinal injury above L1, some of those neurons are disconnected from the brain, and thus cannot activate normal responses (e.g. fight or flight).

[maxerickson]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sympathetic_nervous_system#Orga...