title: Rehabilitation therapy for patients with long-term spinal cord injuries.
abstract: The functional effects of three types of therapy for subjects with long-term incomplete cervical spinal cord injuries were investigated. Men and women, aged 18 to 45 years, were assigned to one of four groups using a restricted randomization process. The training period was divided into two consecutive eight-week time blocks where subjects received either (1) supervised physical exercise therapy (PET), (2) neuromuscular stimulation (NMS), or (3) electromyographic (EMG) biofeedback. Group 1 received EMG biofeedback followed by PET; Group 2 received EMG biofeedback followed by NMS; Group 3 received NMS followed by PET; and Group 4 received 16 weeks of PET. Dependent measures (manual muscle tests, self-care scores, mobility measures, and voluntary EMG activity) were assessed before training, at eight weeks, and after 16 weeks of training. A significant improvement (p less than .05) across time was found on all dependent measures except voluntary EMG. No difference was found on comparisons between groups.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Miami School of Medicine, FL.
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Klose
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: B M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Needham
authors.forename: B S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Brucker
authors.forename: B A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Green
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Ayyar
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001676:Biofeedback, Psychology; D004599:Electric Stimulation Therapy; D004576:Electromyography; D005081:Exercise Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D013997:Time Factors