Abstract
Objective
To assess the relation of pectoralis minor muscle (PMm) length and extensibility to
shoulder pain, shoulder girdle motion, and duration of manual wheelchair (MWC) use,
and to compare differences in muscle length, muscle extensibility, peak humeral elevation,
and pain among groups based on duration of wheelchair use.
Design
Cross-sectional cohort study.
Setting
Laboratory setting.
Participants
Individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) who used an MWC for daily community and
home mobility (N=22; 18 men; mean age, 41.7y; duration wheelchair use, 14.6y). Participants
were stratified into groups based on duration of wheelchair use: <5 years (n=6), 5
to 15 years (n=8), and >15 years (n=8).
Interventions
Not applicable.
Main Outcome Measures
Clinical measures of PMm length and extensibility, shoulder girdle motion, and shoulder
pain (Wheelchair User's Shoulder Pain Index).
Results
Significant high correlations were found among duration of wheelchair use, passive
PMm length, passive PMm extensibility, and peak humerothoracic elevation. Moderate
correlation of peak humerothoracic elevation to pain was found. Individuals with >15
years wheelchair use had reduced PMm extensibility and reduced peak humerothoracic
elevation than those with <5 years duration of use.
Conclusions
To our knowledge, this is the first investigation to identify the association of reduced
PMm extensibility with reduced shoulder girdle mobility, pain, and duration of wheelchair
use in individuals with SCI.
Keywords
List of abbreviations:
BMI (body mass index), ICC (intraclass correlation coefficient), MWC (manual wheelchair), PMm (pectoralis minor muscle), SCI (spinal cord injury), WUSPI (Wheelchair User's Shoulder Pain Index)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 29, 2017
Footnotes
Supported by an internal research funding grant from the College of Nursing and Health Professions, Drexel University.
Disclosures: none.
Identification
Copyright
© 2017 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine
