title: Timed motor test for wheelchair users: initial development and application in children with spinal cord injury.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this study was to describe the development and preliminary results of reliability testing of the timed motor test (TMT), a performance-based measure of functional status for children with a spinal cord injury (SCI) who use a manual wheelchair. This study will also provide pilot data using the TMT to examine the impact of thoracolumbosacral orthoses (TLSO) on function in children with a SCI.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional observational study. METHODS/PARTICIPANTS: This study enrolled 11 subjects with SCI. The TMT consisted of donning a shirt, donning pants, even transfers, uneven transfers, and propelling a wheelchair 80 feet and up a ramp of 45 feet. Nine subjects completed the TMT with and without a TLSO, and 6 subjects (4 of whom also completed the TMT with and without a TLSO) completed the reliability testing.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Except for donning pants, the intertester and intratester reliability of the TMT was fair-to-good with intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) of 0.60 or greater. When wearing a TLSO, participants were slower at donning a shirt, donning pants, performing even and uneven transfers, and hallway propulsion (P < 0.05). There was a preference for not wearing a TLSO for dressing and transfer skills.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In general, the TMT for wheelchair users had fair-to-good intertester and intratester reliability. Based on these pilot data, there was an increase in time to complete several functional tasks because of the use of a TLSO as measured by the TMT in children with a SCI.
authors.affiliation: Shriners Hospitals for Children, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19140, USA. rchafetz@shrinenet.org
authors.forename: Ross
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chafetz
authors.forename: Craig
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: McDonald
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Mulcahey
authors.forename: Randal
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Betz
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: Lawrence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vogel
authors.forename: John P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Gaughan
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Mary Ann
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: O'Dell
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Flanagan
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology*; D009989:Orthotic Devices; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013996:Time and Motion Studies; D014910:Wheelchairs