What do I need to know?
Ninety-five percent of all pressure sores are preventable!
After spinal cord injury, your skin requires daily care and a lot of attention.
You will need to spend time daily cleaning the skin, keeping it dry (from incontinence or perspiration), checking the skin for problems or changes, moving ...
What is skin tolerance?
Skin tolerance is how much time your skin can stand to be under pressure before damage starts to occur. Each person's skin tolerance is different. Some people may need to relieve pressure very often, others may not have to do it as often, but they still need ...
Areas where bones are close to the surface (called "bony prominences") and areas that are under the most pressure are at greatest risk for developing pressure sores.
In bed, body parts can be padded with pillows or foam to keep bony prominences (areas where bones are close to the skin surface) ...
How can I tell if I have a pressure sore?
First signs. One of the first signs of a possible skin sore is a reddened, discolored or darkened area (an African American’s skin may look purple, bluish or shiny). It may feel hard and warm to the touch.
A pressure sore has ...
What is the study about?
The main purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between depression and severity of pain among patients with a recent spinal cord injury or disease. The study also examined patient characteristics, neurological function and etiology (traumatic vs. non-traumatic).
What did the study find?
Demographic and neurological ...
Keys to Successful Aging
People with spinal cord injuries (SCIs) are living longer. As a result, they may need to find ways to promote and maintain their health throughout their lives. For people with an SCI, successful aging involves taking care of physical, emotional, and social health; maintaining as much independence ...
What is the study about?
This review evaluated the Walking Index for Spinal Cord Injury (WISCI), which is a scale with 21 levels that measures the capacity of a spinal cord injury (SCI) survivor to walk 10 meters with or without personal assistance and the use of equipment such as braces ...
What is the study about?
Medical and rehabilitation care advances have contributed to an increase in the number of individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) who are able to regain and maintain ambulatory (walking) abilities. However, some studies have implied that the risk of falls is higher for ambulatory persons with ...
What is the study about?
This study describes clinicians’ experiences using robotic exoskeletons in spinal cord injury (SCI) rehabilitation. These experiences include their perceptions on the benefits and risks of using robotic exoskeletons, training strategies, and developments that can enhance clinical utility.
What did the study find?
The four SCI model system centers ...
What is the study about?
This study aims to estimate the budget impact of adding robotic exoskeleton (RT-exo) over-ground training to existing locomotor training strategies, in the rehabilitation of people with spinal cord injury (SCI). Locomotor training is a standard of care for the SCI population. It typically requires multiple personnel ...
Objectives: To investigate the relation of gait training (GT) during inpatient rehabilitation (IPR) to outcomes of people with traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI).
Design: Prospective observational study using the SCIRehab database.
Setting: Six IPR facilities.
Participants: Patients with new SCI (N=1376) receiving initial rehabilitation.
Interventions: Patients were divided into groups consisting of those who ...
Objectives: To examine (1) differences in quality-of-life scores for groups based on transitions in locomotion status at 1, 5, and 10 years postdischarge in a sample of people with spinal cord injury (SCI); and (2) whether demographic factors and transitions in locomotion status can predict quality-of-life measures at these time ...
Difficulty walking is very common following a spinal cord injury (SCI). People with SCI may have gait training included in their therapy plans. Gait training is practicing walking with assistive devices, braces and other types of support as needed.
What is the study about?
This experiment was conducted to test whether nicotine taken by mouth in the form of gum reduces or worsens pain felt after spinal cord injury (SCI). Pain was classified as musculoskeletal (MS), pure neuropathic (NP) or complex neuropathic (cNP). MS symptoms include pain described as “aching” ...
The purpose of the study is to develop and test an online health promotion program for people aging with SCI. Working closely with a community advisory board of people with SCI, two senior advisory with lived experience, and a medical advisory board, we will develop an 8-week group program, Living ...
What is the study about?
This study examined the effectiveness of the medication Venlafaxine in treating pain in people with Spinal Cord Injury (SCI). The medication, Venlafaxine XR, is a treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD). In addition to measuring its effectiveness for treating depression, the researchers were interested in measuring ...
This is a part of the Hot Topic podcast series from the Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center on Managing Pain After Spinal Cord Injury. Barbara Lutz, R.N, research assistant, discusses Coming to Terms with SCI.
For the newly injured patient there is a lot of change of changes ahead. They will ...
This is a part of the Hot Topic podcast series from the Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center on Managing Pain After Spinal Cord Injury. Elizabeth Felix, PhD, discusses Asking About Pain.
It wasn’t really acknowledged that people with Spinal Cord Injury could have pain in areas where their nervous system wasn’t ...