Rehabilitation of spinal cord injury in the national rehabilitation center for the disabled of Japan: profile of a spinal service.

The National Rehabilitation Center for the Disabled (hereunder abbreviated NRC) in Japan was established in 1979. It consists of four divisions: the hospital, the rehabilitation training center, the research institute, and the information service section. The spinal unit has been functioning and cooperating corelatively with all of these divisions. There were 1047 patients with a spinal cord injury treated in the 15 years from September, 1980 to August, 1994; consisting of 924 males (88.3%), and 123 females (11.7%). The breakdown of causes of injury were traffic accidents 44.9%, having a fall 14.7%, sports accidents 6.7%, and other causes of spinal paralysis 10.5%. The sites of the spinal cord lesions were cervical 372 (35.5%), thoracic 547 (52.5%), and lumbar spinal cord 128 patients (12.3%). The incidence of complete paralysis in those with a cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) was 68.8%, and for thoracic and lumbar SCI 79% each. The time for completion of activities of daily living (ADL) was 12.0 +/- 1.54 months in those with tetraplegia, and 5.6 +/- 1.71 months for those with paraplegia. The rate of employment for reentry into society was 59% in those with a cervical spinal cord injury, and 74% each in those with a thoracic or lumbar spinal cord injury.