Abstracts and Workshops 7th National Spinal Cord Injury Conference November 9 – 11, 2017 Fallsview Casino Resort Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada

Abstract

Background/Objectives: To identify and compare effective means of managing obesity in individuals with chronic spinal cord injury (SCI). Methods/Overview: This review included English and non-English articles, published prior to January 2017 found in PubMed/Medline, Embase, Cinahl, Psychinfo and Cochrane databases. Studies evaluating any obesity management strategy alone or in combination including diet therapy, physical exercises, passive exercises such as neuro-muscular electric stimulation (NMES), pharmacotherapy, and surgery, among individuals with chronic SCI were included. Outcomes of interest were declines in waist circumference, body weight, body mass index and Total Fat Mass (TFM) and increases in total lean body mass (TLBM). From 3553 retrieved titles and abstracts, 34 articles underwent full-text review and 23 articles selected for data abstraction. Weight loss due to inflammation, cancer or B12 deficiency was excluded. The quality of the selected studies was evaluated by Downs and Black tool and found to be generally poor to medium with 4 exceptions. Results: Bariatric surgery produced the greatest permanent weight reduction and BMI correction followed by combinations of physical exercise and diet therapy. Generally NMES and pharmacotherapy did not reduce weight but improved body composition (increases in TLBM and reductions in TFM). Conclusions: Due to link between adiposity and all-cause mortality; obesity is a legitimate therapeutic target. A trial of diet and exercise therapy is recommended prior to definitive bariatric surgery.

Development of Walking indicators to advance the quality of spinal cord injury rehabilitation: SCI-High Project

“…The efforts of this Working Group were bootstrapped by the existing SWAT Working Group and their clinical and research activities. 29 In addition, individual members of the Working Group completed their own independent review of the prepared materials, shared resources and/or practice standards, with one another, or conducted independent evaluations of the proposed indicators via email or teleconference outside of the formal scheduled meetings.…”