scholarly journals The benefits of hydrotherapy to patients with spinal cord injuries

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terry J. Ellapen ◽  
Henriëtte V. Hammill ◽  
Mariëtte Swanepoel ◽  
Gert L. Strydom
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Spinal Cord Injury ◽  
Full Text ◽  
Spinal Cord Injuries ◽  
Cardiovascular Responses ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Gait Kinematics ◽  
Cord Injury ◽  
The Impact

Background: Many patients with spinal cord injury (PWSCI) lead sedentary lifestyles, experiencing poor quality of life and medical challenges. PWSCI don’t like to participate in land-based-exercises because it’s tedious to perform the same exercises, decreasing their rehabilitative compliance and negatively impacting their well-being. An alternative exercise environment and exercises may alleviate boredom, enhancing compliance.Objectives: Discuss the benefits of hydrotherapy to PWSCI concerning underwater gait-kinematics, thermoregulatory and cardiovascular responses and spasticity.Methodology: A literature surveillance was conducted between 1998 and 2017, through the Crossref meta-database and Google Scholar, according to the PRISMA procedures. Key search words were water-therapy, aquatic-therapy, hydrotherapy, spinal cord injury, rehabilitation, human, kinematics, underwater gait, cardiorespiratory, thermoregulation and spasticity. The quality of each paper was evaluated using a modified Downs and Black Appraisal Scale. The participants were records pertaining to PWSCI and hydrotherapy. The outcomes of interest were: hydrotherapy interventions, the impact of hydrotherapy on gait-kinematics, thermoregulation during water submersion and cardiorespiratory function of PWSCI. Omitted records included: non-English publications from before 1998 or unrelated to hydrotherapy and PWSCI. The record screening admissibility was performed as follows: the title screen, the abstract screen and the full text screen.Results: Literature search identified 1080 records. Upon application of the exclusion criteria, 92 titles, 29 abstracts and 17 full text records were eligible. Only 15 records were selected to be included in this clinical commentary. Evidence shows a paucity of randomised control trials (RCT) conducted in this field.Conclusion: Hydrotherapy improves PWSCI underwater gait-kinematics, cardiorespiratory and thermoregulatory responses and reduces spasticity.

A study of whether individual and dyadic relations between spirituality and resilience contribute to psychological adjustment among individuals with spinal cord injuries and their family members

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (9) ◽  
pp. 1503-1514 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate Fiona Jones ◽  
Grahame Simpson ◽  
Lynne Briggs ◽  
Pat Dorsett ◽  
Malcolm Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Spinal Cord Injury ◽  
Spinal Cord Injuries ◽  
Satisfaction With Life ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Satisfaction With Life Scale ◽  
Cord Injury ◽  
Spiritual Well Being ◽  
The Impact

Objective: To test a model of spiritual well-being and resilience among individuals with spinal cord injuries and their family members. Design: Prospective cross-sectional observational data were analyzed by structural equation modelling. Setting: Inpatient and community services at one rehabilitation hospital. Subjects: Individual with spinal cord injury ( n = 50) and family member ( n = 50) dyads. Interventions: Standard rehabilitation, both inpatient and community. Main measure(s): Functional assessment of chronic illness therapy – spiritual well-being scale – expanded, Connor–Davidson resilience scale, positive and negative affect scale, depression anxiety and stress scale–21, satisfaction with life scale. Results: Median time post-injury was 8.95 months (IQR (interquartile range) = 14.15). Individuals with spinal cord injury and family members reported high scores for both spiritual well-being (66.06 ± 14.89; 68.42 ± 13.75) and resilience (76.68 ± 13.88; 76.64 ± 11.75), respectively. Analysis found the model had acceptable fit (e.g. chi-square goodness of fit statistic = 38.789; P = .263). For individuals with spinal cord injury, spiritual well-being was positively associated with resilience which, in turn, was associated with increasing positive affect and satisfaction with life. Among family members, spiritual well-being was positively associated with resilience. Resilience was then associated with lowered levels of depression and mediated the impact of depression on satisfaction with life. Limited evidence was found for mutual dyadic links, with the only significant pathway finding that resilience in the individual with spinal cord injury was associated with increased satisfaction with life among family members. Conclusion: Increased spirituality and resilience make a significant contribution (both independently and in combination) to positive psychological outcomes for both individuals with spinal cord injury and their family members.

scholarly journals Acquisition of a precision walking skill and the impact of proprioceptive deficits in people with motor-incomplete spinal cord injury

2019 ◽  
Vol 121 (3) ◽  
pp. 1078-1084 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda E. Chisholm ◽  
Taha Qaiser ◽  
Alison M. M. Williams ◽  
Gevorg Eginyan ◽  
Tania Lam
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Spinal Cord Injury ◽  
Visual Feedback ◽  
Spinal Cord Injuries ◽  
Sensory Function ◽  
Joint Position ◽  
Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury ◽  
Cord Injury ◽  
Rate Of Learning ◽  
The Impact

Many people with motor-incomplete spinal cord injury (m-iSCI) experience difficulty navigating obstacles, such as curbs and stairs. The ability to relearn walking skills may be limited by proprioceptive deficits. The purpose of this study was to determine the capacity of participants to acquire a precision walking skill, and to evaluate the influence of proprioceptive deficits on the skill acquisition in individuals with m-iSCI. Sixteen individuals with m-iSCI and eight controls performed a precision walking task that required matching their foot height to a target during the swing phase. Proprioceptive deficits were quantified at the hip and knee for joint position and movement detection sense. Participants completed 600 steps of training with visual feedback. Pretraining and posttraining tests were conducted without visual feedback, along with a transfer test with an ankle weight. Posttraining and transfer tests were repeated 1 day later. Participants returned to the laboratory 1 wk later to repeat the training. Performance was calculated as the vertical distance between the target and actual foot height for each step. The posttraining and transfer performances were similar between groups. However, participants with m-iSCI had a slower rate of acquisition to achieve a similar performance level compared with controls. Acquisition rate and posttraining performance of the precision walking task were related to lower limb joint position sense among SCI participants. Although they can achieve a similar level of performance in a precision walking task, proprioceptive deficits impair the rate of learning among individuals with m-iSCI compared with able-bodied controls. NEW & NOTEWORTHY People with motor-incomplete spinal cord injuries are able to achieve the same level of performance accuracy on a precision walking task as able-bodied controls; however, the rate of learning is slower, indicating that more practice is required to stabilize performance. Our findings also show a relationship between impaired sensory function and reduced accuracy when performing a precision walking task after spinal cord injury.

scholarly journals Development of Emotional Well-Being indicators to advance the quality of spinal cord injury rehabilitation: SCI-High Project

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (sup1) ◽  
pp. 85-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sander L. Hitzig ◽  
Rebecca Titman ◽  
Steven Orenczuk ◽  
Teren Clarke ◽  
Heather Flett ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Spinal Cord Injury ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Injury Rehabilitation ◽  
Cord Injury

Physical Activity, Quality of Life, and Functional Autonomy of Adults With Spinal Cord Injuries

2013 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 317-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Camilla Yuri Kawanishi ◽  
Márcia Greguol
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Physical Activity ◽  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Spinal Cord Injury ◽  
Spinal Cord Injuries ◽  
Functional Independence ◽  
Cord Injury ◽  
Functional Autonomy ◽  
Using Data

This study aimed to perform a systematic review of studies that address the influence of physical activity on the quality of life and functional independence of adult individuals with spinal cord injury. The review was performed using data obtained from the MEDLINE, CINAHL, SciELO, LILACS, SPORTDiscus, Web of Science, Academic Search Premier, and PEDro databases using the following keywords: quality of life; functional independence; autonomy; independence; physical activity; activities of daily living; physical exercise; tetraplegia; paraplegia; spinal cord injury; physical disabilities; and wheelchair. Eleven studies met the inclusion criteria. Although there was a lack of consensus among the selected studies, the majority of them presented a strong correlation between physical activity and variables of quality of life and/or functional independence. Thus, physical activity appears to have an important influence on social relationships, functional independence, psychological factors, and physical aspects, which can enhance quality of life and independence in the performance of daily activities.

Men’s Adjustment to Spinal Cord Injury: The Unique Contributions of Conformity to Masculine Gender Norms

2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaun Michael Burns ◽  
Sigmund Hough ◽  
Briana L. Boyd ◽  
Justin Hill
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Spinal Cord Injury ◽  
Spinal Cord Injuries ◽  
Gender Norms ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Masculine Norms ◽  
Cord Injury ◽  
Future Research Directions ◽  
The Impact

Men constitute 82% of the approximately 250,000 people in the United States living with a spinal cord injury. Unfortunately, however, little is known about the impact of men’s adherence to gender norms on their adjustment to such injuries. The present investigation examined the utility of masculine norms in explaining variance in depression beyond that accounted for by commonly identified predictors of men’s adjustment following spinal cord injury. As hypothesized, results suggested that men’s adherence to masculine norms accounted for unique variance in their depression scores beyond that contributed by social support, environmental barriers/access, and erectile functioning. Respondents who adhered to norms stressing the primacy of men’s work demonstrated lower rates of depression, whereas those who conformed to norms for self-reliance demonstrated higher depression scores. The authors discuss future research directions and potential psychotherapeutic strategies for working with men with spinal cord injuries.

Neuroprotection for Spinal Cord Injury

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher S. Ahuja ◽  
Michael Fehlings
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Spinal Cord Injury ◽  
Spinal Cord Injuries ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Mechanical Trauma ◽  
Secondary Injury ◽  
Loss Of Function ◽  
Cord Injury ◽  
Death And Loss

Traumatic spinal cord injuries (SCI) often have a devastating impact on quality of life for patients and their families. Neuroprotection for spinal cord injury is aimed at improving functional outcomes by limiting secondary injury processes that occur within the first minutes, hours, and days following the primary injury. The primary mechanical trauma initiates a secondary injury cascade where ischemia, inflammatory cell infiltration, and cytotoxic changes in the microenvironment cause further cell death and loss of function. Time-sensitive neuroprotective measures targeting these secondary insults have emerged as key therapeutic strategies. This chapter summarizes current evidence-based neuroprotective treatments, such as blood pressure augmentation, early surgical decompression, and intravenous methylprednisolone, as well as important emerging interventions, including therapeutic hypothermia, sodium channel blockade using riluzole, and the anti-inflammatory actions of minocycline. The chapter concludes by summarizing the current guidelines that all practitioners should be well-versed in prior to providing care for patients with SCI.

Quality of life in persons with spinal cord injury: comparisons with other populations

2012 ◽  
Vol 17 (Suppl1) ◽  
pp. 29-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maxwell Boakye ◽  
Barbara C. Leigh ◽  
Andrea C. Skelly
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Spinal Cord Injury ◽  
Normative Data ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Validity And Reliability ◽  
Sf 36 ◽  
Cord Injury ◽  
The Impact

Object The aim of this study was to identify the quality of life (QOL) measures commonly used to assess patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) and to summarize studies using common QOL measures that have been validated in SCI populations to compare scores in persons with SCI with those in a control population. Methods A systematic search of PubMed was conducted to identify studies using common QOL measures in persons with SCI and those comparing scores for QOL measures in an SCI population with scores in other populations. The authors sought comparative studies utilizing QOL measures for which validity and reliability analyses had been done. Results Of 28 QOL measures found, validity and reliability studies had been conducted in patients with SCI for 5 measures. Twelve comparative studies compared QOL in SCI patients with QOL in healthy controls or in patients with other disabilities, or with normative data. The 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) and the short version of the WHOQOL (WHOQOL-BREF) were the most widely used QOL instruments. Patients with SCI had a decreased QOL as compared with that in healthy controls or normative data, with the most pronounced deficits in the domains of physical functioning and physical role limitations. In 3 studies, patients with tetraplegia had a lower physical domain QOL than did those with paraplegia. Overall, however, the impact of injury level and injury completeness on QOL after SCI remains unclear due to a lack of longitudinal studies. Conclusions The SF-36 and WHOQOL-BREF are validated instruments that should be considered for use in SCI QOL studies. Future analysis of deficits in QOL among patients with SCI would benefit from the development of a QOL instrument specifically targeted to SCI. Longitudinal studies to assess the impact of injury level and injury completeness on SCI QOL are also needed.

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