Shoulder pain in persons with thoracic spinal cord injury: prevalence and characteristics.

Objective: To document the prevalence of shoulder pain, associated patient characteristics, and intensity and interference with shoulder function in activities in wheelchair users.

Design: A cross-sectional survey.

Patients: Individuals with a thoracic spinal cord injury.

Sitting balance and effects of kayak training in paraplegics.

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to evaluate biomechanical variables related to balance control in sitting, and the effects of kayak training, in individuals with spinal cord injury.

Subjects: Twelve individuals with spinal cord injury were investigated before and after an 8-week training period in open sea kayaking, and 12 able-bodied subjects, who did not train, served as controls.

Methods: Standard deviation and mean velocity of centre of pressure displacement, and median frequency of centre of pressure acceleration were measured in quiet sitting in a special chair mounted on a force plate.

Measuring seating pressure, area, and asymmetry in persons with spinal cord injury.

The goal of this study was to measure characteristics of seat loading in manual wheelchair users with complete spinal cord injury (SCI). Pressure distribution on the seating area of 25 adult males with SCI and eight non-injured adult males was measured in a relaxed and an upright posture on a standardized hard surface. Subjects with SCI were also tested in their wheelchairs.