Studies on the Basal Metabolism of Japanese (Report 9)

Energy Metabolism of Physically Handicapped Persons

Abstract

The project of this investigation is to investigate the calorie requirement of the physically handicapped persons, suffering from extremities amputations, infantile paralysis and articular rigidities.
Their basal metabolism and working metabolism as well as food intake were investigated.
The average of their basal metabolism was 1.30 Calorie per kg. per hour which was much higher than the Japanese standard by 21%. The case of the spinal infantile paralysis showed the highest, and the cerebral infantile paralysis was the lowest among them.
Those who has an artificial leg or had suffered from infantile paralysis consumed 1.5-3 times of energy more in walking or ascending stairs compared with the normal, but not much in bycicle-ergometer.
The cause of the higher basal metabolism, which seemed to come from the active protoplasmic mass, will be studied later.