title: Movement repetitions in physical and occupational therapy during spinal cord injury rehabilitation.
abstract: METHODS
  Longitudinal observational study.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To quantify the amount of upper- and lower-extremity movement repetitions (that is, voluntary movements as part of a functional task or specific motion) occurring during inpatient spinal cord injury (SCI), physical (PT) and occupational therapy (OT), and examine changes over the inpatient rehabilitation stay.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two stand-alone inpatient SCI rehabilitation centers.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants: A total of 103 patients were recruited through consecutive admissions to SCI rehabilitation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Trained assistants observed therapy sessions and obtained clinical outcome measures in the second week following admission and in the second to last week before discharge.
  
  
  METHODS
  PT and OT time, upper- and lower-extremity repetitions and changes in these outcomes over the course of rehabilitation stay.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We observed 561 PT and 347 OT sessions. Therapeutic time comprised two-thirds of total therapy time. Summed over PT and OT, the median upper-extremity repetitions in patients with paraplegia were 7 repetitions and in patients with tetraplegia, 42 repetitions. Lower-extremity repetitions and steps primarily occurred in ambulatory patients and amounted to 218 and 115, respectively (summed over PT and OT sessions at discharge). Wilcoxon-signed rank tests revealed that most repetition variables did not change significantly over the inpatient rehabilitation stay. In contrast, clinical outcomes for the arm and leg improved over this time period.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Repetitions of upper- and lower-extremity movements are markedly low during PT and OT sessions. Despite improvements in clinical outcomes, there was no significant increase in movement repetitions over the course of inpatient rehabilitation stay.
authors.affiliation: Rehabilitation Research Program, Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute, Vancouver, BC, Canada.|International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries, Vancouver, BC, Canada.|Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zbogar
authors.affiliation: Rehabilitation Research Program, Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute, Vancouver, BC, Canada.|International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries, Vancouver, BC, Canada.|Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Eng
authors.affiliation: Rehabilitation Research Program, Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute, Vancouver, BC, Canada.|International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries, Vancouver, BC, Canada.|Department of Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: W C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.affiliation: International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries, Vancouver, BC, Canada.|Division of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: A V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Krassioukov
authors.affiliation: University Health Network-Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada.|Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Verrier
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009068:Movement; D026201:Musculoskeletal Manipulations / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D009788:Occupational Therapy / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D010351:Patient Discharge / Q000639:trends; D012047:Rehabilitation Centers / Q000639:trends; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D016896:Treatment Outcome