title: Spinal cord injury rehabilitation: which way forward?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Spinal cord injury (SCI), damage to spinal cord, influences the ability of the subjects to stand and walk. Moreover, they have some problems such as osteoporosis, muscle spasm, joint contracture and bowel and bladder function. These subjects use various orthoses and undergo different rehabilitation programmes to restore their ability. It is controversial whether use of aforementioned methods improves the physiological health of SCI individuals and improves their ability to ambulate or not. Therefore, the aim of this review was to investigate the effectiveness of assistive devices to restore their physiological health and their functional ability in patients with SCI.
  
  
  METHODS
  A search was done in some databases such as Medline, Embasco, and ISI Web of sciences between 1960 and 2013. The quality of studies was assessed using the Down and Black tool.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Two hundred articles were found based on the selected key words. Sixty papers were selected for final analysis, of which 35 and 45 focused on benefits of standing and walking, performance of SCI during standing and walking with various systems, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although there was lots of variation between the studies based on the number of subjects, level of lesion, type of lesion and time post injury, it can be concluded that use of various orthoses neither improve the abilities of subjects to stand and walk nor improve their physiological health. It may be concluded that the use of other methods of exercise may have more physiological benefits for SCI subjects.
authors.affiliation: Rehabilitation Faculty of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Karimi
authors.affiliation: Centre of Sports Innovation and Technology, University Technology of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Department of Health Professions, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK.
authors.forename: Abdul Hafidz Haji
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Omar
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Professions, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK.
authors.forename: Francis
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fatoye
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D009989:Orthotic Devices; D011187:Posture; D020127:Recovery of Function; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D016138:Walking
keywords: Spinal cord injury; functional electrical stimulation; hybrid; orthosis; physiological health; robotic; walking ability