Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2001, 194 (3)

The Order of Reacquirement of Activity of Daily Living Functions in People with Spinal Cord Injury during Rehabilitation after Initial Medical Treatment and its Affecting Factors

YOSHIKO TOBIMATSU and RYUICHI NAKAMURA

Department of Rehabilitation Medicine for People with Disabilities, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai 980-8575, and National Rehabilitation Center for the Disabled, Tokorozawa 391-8555

The purpose of this study was to investigate the order of reacquisition of activity of daily living (ADL) functions during inpatient rehabilitation at our spinal cord injury unit following the individual's initial medical care and to investigate what initial medical and biological factors would affect the ADL functions which the individual with spinal cord injury could perform 14 weeks after the beginning of inpatient rehabilitation. Fifty-two patients with spinal cord injuries who were hospitalized in the rehabilitation unit after their initial medical care participated in this study. The participants' ADL abilities were measured using the Barthel Index every four weeks after hospitalization for a period of 26 weeks. The order of reacquisition of ADL functions included in the Barthel Index was analyzed. Multiple regression analysis was performed to analyze the initial medical and biological factors affecting ADL reacquisition 14 weeks after hospitalization. The order of reacquisition of the ADL functions was almost the same in each individual. The multiple regression equations of the Barthel Index score and number of ADL functions after 14 weeks were both significant and the explanatory variables in both equations included the patients' age, complications on the initial stage and traumatic brain injury as an associated injury with spinal cord injury. We concluded that the patient's score on the Barthel Index and what the patient could actually perform 14 weeks after hospitalization could be predicted from the patient's status at hospitalization in the rehabilitation unit. This predictable correlation can contribute to the rehabilitation management for spinal cord injuries.

Keywords —— spinal cord injury; rehabilitation; activity of daily living; prediction

© 2001 Tohoku University Medical Press

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2001, 194, 181-190

Address for reprints: Yoshiko Tobimatsu, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine for People with Disabilities, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-1 Seiryomachi, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan.

e-mail: tobi@mail.cc.tohoku.ac.jp