Functional Independence and Quality of Life in Traumatic Below T6 Level Spinal Cord Injury at Different Time Spans

Abstract

Background: Trauma is the most frequent cause of spinal cord injury in Indian adult populations. Injury results from damage caused by traumatic events such as motor vehicle accidents (40.4%), falls (27.9%), violence (15.0%), and sports (8.0%). Aim: To find out the level of functional independence and quality of life in a person with traumatic below T6 level spinal cord injury as time progresses Study Design & Setting: observational study & Tertiary care center, neuro-rehabilitation center. Methods and Material: The sample size was 45 and each group had 15 spinal cord injury individuals. Inclusion was of both genders, traumatic incomplete below T6 level of spinal cord injury and sub-acute to chronic phase spinal cord injury were taken. The exclusion was a traumatic head injury and recent trauma to the lower limb. Statistical analysis: Analysis was done using SPSS V 26. Krushkal Wallis test was used for the non-parametric data, and the mean and standard deviation were calculated. Results: WHOQOL and SCIM were the scales used and mean values of the same at 3 different time spans are as follows: for WHOQOL, Physical domain 48, 56, 56., Psychological 39, 51, 54. c) Social 54, 60, 59, Environmental 52, 62, 64. Similarly, SCIM showed 36, 47 and 52 Conclusion: The study concludes that quality of life and functional capacity show a much better and significant improvement in the acute and subacute stage post-injury after which their stagnancy is observed Key words: Quality of life, Traumatic, Spinal cord injury, Functional independence