Evaluation of Static and Dynamic Stability of Spinal Cord Injuries: What Are the Gaps?

BACKGROUND

Depending on the level of lesion, spinal cord injury (SCI) individuals have limited ability to stand and walk. They have to use various assistive devices to restore their abilities. The aim of this study was to evaluate the stability of SCI individuals during walking and quiet standing.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Three groups: normal subjects and SCI individuals with complete and incomplete lesions, were enrolled. Stability of the subjects was evaluated based on center of pressure (COP) sways in quiet standing and spatiotemporal gait parameters in walking. The difference between the stability of normal and SCI subjects was determined by use of the two-sample t test. The correlation between the mean values of stability parameters in standing and walking and lesion level was determined by use of Pearson's correlation.

RESULTS

The stability of SCI subjects during quiet standing was better than that of normal subjects. How-ever, their dynamic stability was significantly less than normal subjects. The dynamic stability of complete and incomplete SCI subjects did not differ significantly (P-value<0.05). There was no correlation between lesion level and stability parameters.

CONCLUSIONS

1. SCI individuals suffer mostly from lack of dynamic stability, which does not depend on their lesion levels. 2. It seems that this problem may be due to rehabilitation methods used to improve stability in these patients. 3. It is recommended that new methods of rehabilitation or assistive devices should be used to improve stability of these individuals.