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This study aimed to examine the effects of an exercising program using a sling on spinal cord injury patients' upper extremity muscle strength, function, and activity ability. Before and after application of the exercise program using a sling, the subjects' muscle strength, CUE, and SCIM Ⅲ were measured. The subjects were 14 spinal cord injury patients with chest pain and randomly and equally assigned to a sling exercise group(SEG) and a general physical therapy group(GPTG). The exercise method was that the subjects performed exercise maintaining its intensity at third or fourth grade using ratings of perceived exertion; They conducted their exercise three times per week, 30 to 40 minutes per each time, for a total of 8 weeks. The SEG carried out three sets of exercises, 10 times per each set. The sling string and the table's height were adjusted to be suitable for the subjects' physical condition. A therapist assisted the subjects enabling them to have a proper posture and perform the exercise. The GPTG performed passive joint exercise, muscle strengthening exercise, and stretching. All the subjects prepared for their exercise for five minutes before the initiation of the intervention and took a rest for 10 seconds between exercises. Comparison between the SEG and the GPTG before and after the intervention resulted in the following outcomes. After the intervention, upper extremity muscle strength of the shoulder joints increased in all test items of the SEG and in the other items of the GPTG except for the extensor and adductor muscles, with statistically significant differences between the two groups. After the intervention, upper extremity muscle strength of the elbow joints increased in all test items of the sling group and in the other items of the GPTG except for the flexor and pronator muscles, with no statistically significant differences in both groups. There were statistically significant differences between the two groups. After the intervention, upper extremity muscle strength of the shoulder joints increased in all test items of the SEG and in the other items of the GPTG except for the extensor and adductor muscles. There were differences in all the muscles between the two groups except for the extensor muscle. According to the result of measuring CUE to evaluate the subjects' upper extremity function, CUE improved in both groups with no differences between them. The result of measuring SCIM III to assess spinal cord injury patients' functional changes was that there was increase in the scores of both group after the intervention with no differences between them. The above results suggest that a sling exercise program can improve spinal cord injury patients' upper extremity muscle strength and diverse activities of daily living like general rehabilitation programs applied to them in the clinical field. Therefore, an upper extremity exercise program using a sling is considered recommendable as an effective rehabilitation intervention exercise program for spinal cord injury patients.