SCI Publications

Article provides a brief review of the Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems (SCIMS) program throughout its history, to facilitate a better understanding and interpretation of the data presented in SCIMS research publications, including the articles published in this special journal issue. The SCIMS centers have provided continuous, comprehensive multidisciplinary ...

Study determined the deficit rates for transfer component skills among veterans who use wheelchairs and explored the relationship between deficit rates and subject characteristics. Seventy-four men and 18 women performed up to four transfers independently from their wheelchair to a mat table while a therapist evaluated their transfer techniques ...

Article describes the development of the International Spinal Cord Injury Pain Extended Data Set (ISCIPEDS) to guide the assessment and treatment of pain after spinal cord injury (SCI). Members of the interdisciplinary working group recommended four assessment domains for the ISCIPEDS: (1) pain symptoms, including variables related to pain ...

Study investigated the association of multiple sets of risk and protective factors (biographic and injury, socioeconomic, health) with cause-specific mortality after spinal cord injury (SCI). Participants were 8,157 adults with traumatic SCI who were enrolled in a SCI Model Systems facility after 1973. All-cause mortality was determined using the ...

Study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Spinal Cord Injury-Functional Index/Assistive Technology (SCI-FI/AT) short forms (SFs) in the domains of basic mobility, self-care, fine motor function, and ambulation based on internal consistency, with specific SFs for people with paraplegia and tetraplegia. The study also examined correlations between SFs and ...

Study evaluated the immediate effects of transfer training based on the Transfer Assessment Instrument (TAI) on upper-limb biomechanics during transfers. The TAI consist of 2 parts. Part 1 of the TAI divides a transfer into 15 items, each representing a component transfer skill. Part 2 evaluates the consistency of ...

Study assessed the prevalence of bowel-related complications in people with spinal cord injury (SCI) and identified the factors associated with constipation and incontinence as well as overall bowel dysfunction. A total of 291 subjects who incurred traumatic SCI with resultant neurogenic bowel were evaluated. Constipation, bowel incontinence, and neurogenic ...

Study examined associations between objective and self-reported measures of physical activity (PA) and the relationships of these measures with depression and satisfaction with life (SWL) in people with spinal cord injury (SCI). Data were collected from 86 individuals with traumatic SCI who use a manual wheelchair. Objective measures of ...

Study assessed the patterns of sacral sparing and recovery in newly injured individuals with traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) admitted to rehabilitation centers within 30 days after injury with follow-up at discharge, at 1 year, or both. The International Standards for Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury examination results ...

Study investigated the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on the nociceptive response and on interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β), interleukin-10 (IL-10), and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) levels in central nervous system (CNS) structures of rats with neuropathic pain (NP). tDCS is a non-invasive method of cerebral stimulation and ...

Study examined the construct of loneliness and its correlates in people with spinal cord injury (SCI), assessed the reliability and validity of the 3-item Loneliness Scale, and evaluated the unique impact of loneliness on psychological health. Data were collected from 175 people with SCI who participated in Spinal Cord ...

Study used musculoskeletal modeling and forward dynamics simulations to investigate the influence of the hand pattern used during manual wheelchair propulsion on specific measures of upper-extremity muscle demand. The hand pattern (i.e., full-cycle hand path) used during manual wheelchair propulsion is frequently classified as one of four distinct hand ...

Study developed mathematical models for predicting level of independence with specific functional outcomes 1 year after discharge from inpatient rehabilitation for spinal cord injury (SCI). Specifically, the study compared the accuracy and performance of statistical analyses using artificial neural networks (ANNs) and logistic regression methods to estimate longer-term ambulation ...

Study investigated how transfer technique and subject characteristics relate to ultrasound measures of shoulder soft tissue pathology and self-reported shoulder pain during transfers in a sample of 76 wheelchair users with spinal cord injury (SCI). Outcome measures included: transfer pain items from the Wheelchair User’s Shoulder Pain Index; transfer ...

This pilot study examined the feasibility of administering an individual, in-person version of Health Mechanics, an innovative self-management program designed to teach individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) to maintain physical health and prevent secondary conditions. After baseline assessments, 27 participants were randomized to either the experimental intervention or ...

Study evaluated the effects of repeated transfers on ultrasound markers for carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) in people with spinal cord injuries and to relate changes to subject characteristics and transfer skills. Participants were 30 wheelchair users with nonprogressive paraplegia recruited via research registries and at the 2013 National Veterans ...

Study examined the relationship between metabolic syndrome (MetS) and pressure ulcers (PrU), after controlling for demographic and injury characteristics, socioeconomic factors, health behaviors and fatigue among 350 participants with spinal cord injury (SCI). Blood tests and physical examination were performed. Waist circumference, high-density cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure and fasting ...

Study assessed the effects of gene expression or intracellular signaling in paralyzed muscles of men with long-standing spinal cord injury (SCI). Specifically, it examined the expression of genes (TNFαR, TNFα, IL-6R, IL-6, TWEAK, TWEAK R, atrogin-1, and MuRF1) and abundance of intracellular signaling proteins (TWEAK, TWEAK R, NF-κB, and ...

Study evaluated the effects of short-term manipulations in locomotor intensity on gait performance in people with motor incomplete spinal cord injury (iSCI) and investigated potential detrimental effects of high-intensity locomotor training on walking performance. Nineteen individuals with chronic iSCI performed a graded-intensity locomotor exercise task with simultaneous collection of ...

Study investigated whether spinal cord injury-induced immune deficiency syndrome (SCI-IDS) may account for the enhanced infection susceptibility based on spinal cord injury (SCI) lesion level. Pneumonia is the leading cause of death after acute SCI and is associated with poor neurological outcome. Researchers applied a clinically relevant model of ...