Abstract
There are approximately 300,000 persons with spinal cord injury living in the United
States, and nearly 60% of these persons have suffered tetraplegia with resultant alterations
in body function, activity, and therefore participation. Restoring hand function can
improve independence, and various studies have shown that persons with tetraplegia
rate restoration of arm and hand function higher than bowel and bladder control, walking,
or sexuality. There are conservative options to improve upper limb function in this
population (eg, orthoses, neuroprostheses). Surgical interventions are also available,
and 70% of surgical patients report satisfaction and improvement in various activities
of daily living after surgery to restore arm and hand function. Despite these positive
surgical outcomes, <10% of the eligible population of 60% to 70% undergo tendon transfer
surgery to restore function. Underutilization of surgical interventions can be explained
by population-, provider-, and health care systems–specific barriers. With further
education of providers and patients and team building across disciplines these barriers
can be overcome, ultimately leading to reduced disability and improved quality of
life for persons with tetraplegia.
Keywords
List of abbreviations:
ADL (activities of daily living), ICSHT (International Classification for Surgery of the Hand in Tetraplegia), ISNCSCI (International Standards for Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury), SCI (spinal cord injury)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article Info
Footnotes
Publication of this article was supported by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine.
Disclosures: none.
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine
