Communication with general practitioners: a survey of spinal cord injury physicians' perspectives.

Study Design: An online questionnaire.

Objectives: To gauge spinal cord injury (SCI) specialists' assessment of their communications with general practitioners (GPs). To determine whether economic or health-care system-related factors enhance or inhibit such communication.

Pressure injury prediction using diffusely scattered light.

Pressure injuries (PIs) originate beneath the surface of the skin at the interface between bone and soft tissue. We used diffuse correlation spectroscopy (DCS) and diffuse near-infrared spectroscopy (DNIRS) to predict the development of PIs by measuring dermal and subcutaneous red cell motion and optical absorption and scattering properties in 11 spinal cord injury subjects with only nonbleachable redness in the sacrococcygeal area in a rehabilitation hospital and 20 healthy volunteers. A custom optical probe was developed to obtain continuous DCS and DNIRS data from sacrococcygeal tissue while the subjects were placed in supine and lateral positions to apply pressure from body weight and to release pressure, respectively.

Cervical epidural steroid injections and spinal cord injuries.

Background Context: Cervical interlaminar and transforaminal epidural steroid injections have been increasingly performed as a medical interventional treatment for pain.

Purpose: This study aimed to examine if there was increasing proportion of cervical spinal cord injured acute rehabilitation hospital admissions related to cervical epidural injections because of increased use of the procedure. Additionally, this study aimed to determine risk factors that may have made these patients known higher risk premorbidly.

Restorative rehabilitation entails a paradigm shift in pediatric incomplete spinal cord injury in adolescence: an illustrative case series.

Physical rehabilitation after spinal cord injury (SCI) in adult and pediatric populations has traditionally compensated for paralysis and weakness using wheelchairs, assistive devices, and braces to achieve seated mobility, upright standing, or bracewalking. Recent evidence indicates efficacy of activity-based therapies in adults with SCI, specifically locomotor training (LT), to activate the neuromuscular system below the injury level and improve walking and postural control by restoring pre-morbid movements. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the feasibility of LT, using repetitive stepping practice on a treadmill and translated to over ground and the community, to meet the unique needs and demands of pediatric, adolescent rehabilitation.

Demographic characteristics of 38 patients injured in motor vehicle accidents referred by chiropractors to physiatrists.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to describe the demographic profile of patients in the New Jersey area who are involved in motor vehicle personal injury lawsuits and who are referred from chiropractors to physiatrists.

Methods: The study design was a prospective chart review of patients (N = 38) referred to a private physiatric practice from 5 chiropractic practices. Patient data collected at initial consultation included age, employment status, emergency department consultation, time since accident, visual analog score, neck pain and back pain, review of systems, and functional limitations.

Normalization of central cord syndrome spinal cord injury urodynamics after intrathecal baclofen therapy: a case report.

Objective. To report a case of improved urodynamics in a central cord syndrome spinal cord injury after intrathecal baclofen therapy. Methods.

Expanding the differential of shoulder pain: Parsonage-Turner syndrome.

A 44-year-old man was in his car when it was rear-ended in a minor motor vehicle collision, during which his right forearm contacted the steering wheel. Shortly thereafter, pain in his right shoulder developed, but initial work-up was unremarkable. His pain progressed to shoulder girdle weakness over several months and did not improve after 2.

Rehabilitation of neuromyelitis optica (Devic syndrome): three case reports.

We describe the inpatient clinical rehabilitation course of three patients with neuromyelitis optica (NMO; Devic syndrome). These patients had varying functional deficits. Each patient improved in several functional independence measures (FIM domains) but had minimal to no progress in other domains after acute rehabilitation stays between 1 and 1.

Myelopathy associated with melorheostosis: a case report.

A man in his mid thirties presented with lower-extremity weakness and spasticity because of a myelopathy caused by a rare disorder of bone known as melorheostosis. The primary pathology involved was compression of the cord at the cervicothoracic levels by dystrophic osseous formation within the vertebral bodies. Based on a review of existing literature, it was evident that the spine is an uncommon location to find melorheostosis, making this disease entity a unique cause of myelopathy.

Spinal cord injury and use of botulinum toxin in reducing spasticity.

Spasticity is commonly seen after spinal cord injury, and a large percentage of patients with spinal cord injury will need treatment to control it. Although oral medications do a fair job of controlling spasticity in most patients, some patients will need additional forms of treatment. In many cases, oral medications alone do not adequately control spasticity or the patient cannot tolerate the side effects.