Study design: Case series. Objectve: The objective was to study the effect of phenol blocks to the motor points of the subscapularis muscle in patients with cervical cord injury (CCI). Setting: Spinal cord injury units of a national hospital in Tokyo. Methods: The participants were seven patients with traumatic CCI, mean age 55.8 years (SD4.0), whose injury level were at the fifth cervical level and the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) impairment scale was A in 2, C in 1 and D in 4. They were at least 5 months post-acute injury, and complained of pain and limited range of motion (ROM) of their shoulder joint that were unresponsive to usual rehabilitative interventions and medications. Before and after the phenol block to the motor points of the subscapularis muscle, we compared passive and active ROM of the shoulder (flexion, abduction and external rotation), spasticity of the subscapularis as assessed with the modified Ashworth scale, pain as evaluated with a visual analog scale, and eating item of the Functional Independence Measure. Results: There were significant improvements in passive ROM in flexion (23.71), abduction (19.41) and external rotation (16.81; Po0.05). Visual analog scale for shoulder pain was reduced from 6.0 to 3.4 (Po0.05). The modified Ashworth scale for shoulder spasticity, however, did not significantly change. The eating Functional Independence Measure item score improved significantly (Po0.05). Conclusions: This study suggests that subscapularis motor point block for pain and limited ROM with spastic shoulder is a useful technique in patients with CCI.

Study design:A retrospective study.Objectives:To investigate the effect of imidafenacin on the urodynamic parameters of patients with indwelling bladder catheters due to spinal cord injury (SCI).Setting:Spinal center (Tokyo, Japan).Methods:Imidafenacin was prescribed to 34 patients with SCI who had a low cystometric volume and/or detrusor compliance according to a urodynamic study. A low cystometric volume and detrusor compliance were defined as <200 ml and <20 ml cm−1 H2O, respectively. The urodynamic study was repeated 4 weeks after imidafenacin was prescribed. When the urodynamic parameters did not improve in the follow-up study, the dose of imidafenacin was increased twofold. Then the urodynamic study was repeated 4 weeks thereafter. We compared the urodynamic parameters before and after imidafenacin treatment. Complications such as vesico-urethral reflux (VUR) and autonomic dysreflexia (AD) were documented.Results:Fifteen patients took 0.2 mg of imidafenacin daily, and 19 received 0.4 mg of imidafenacin daily. Imidafenacin increased the cystometric volume from 246.0 to 321.5 ml (median, P=0.002), detrusor compliance from 6.67 ml cm−1 H2O to 8.98 ml cm−1 H2O (median, P=0.012), and decreased the detrusor pressure from 37.0 cm H2O to 30.5 cm H2O (median, P=0.056). All three patients who had VUR fully recovered. Although 3 of 12 patients recovered from AD, 3 patients newly developed symptoms of AD. No patient withdrew from treatment due to adverse effects.Conclusion:Imidafenacin is a safe drug that may improve the urodynamic parameters of patients with SCI, and it possibly alleviates bladder complications.