Therapy for spinal cord injury

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

A comparison study suggests that both body weight supported treadmill therapy and conventional mobility rehab are effective in spinal cord injury.
Physical therapy is important after a spinal cord injury because it can get people mobile again. A team at the University of California now reports on a comparison of two approaches - body weight-supported treadmill training and overground mobility therapy, which does not use a treadmill at all.

They divided 117 individuals with spinal cord injury into categories B, C and D where B was the more impaired and D the least impaired. All received equal amounts of one of the two therapies for 12 weeks. There was no difference in the two approaches and most of those in group C were able to walk independently six months after their injury. The walking speed was a respectable 1.1 meters per second on average. The earlier the trial was begun after the injury, the faster the walking speeds and the longer the distance able to be walked. The findings show that either technique would benefit someone with the spinal cord injury - the choice can be made on the basis of personal preference, availability of equipment and costs.

Source
Neurology 28th February 2006