Abstract
Objective
To characterize the use of complementary and integrative health care (CIH) by people
with spinal cord injury.
Design
Cross-sectional self-report study.
Setting
Participants were recruited from 5 Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems (SCIMS) centers
across the United States.
Interventions
Not applicable.
Participants
A total of 411 persons enrolled in the SCIMS completing their SCIMS follow-up interview
between January 2017 and July 2019 (N = 411).
Main Outcome Measures
Participants completed a survey developed for this study that included questions about
types of CIH currently and previously used, reasons for current and previous use,
reasons for discontinuing use of CIH, and reasons for never using CIH since injury.
Results
Of the 411 respondents, 80.3% were current or previous users of CIH; 19.7% had not
used CIH since injury. The most commonly used current types of CIH were multivitamins
(40.0%) and massage (32.6%), whereas the most common previously used type of CIH was
acupuncture (33.9%). General health and wellness (61.4%) and pain (31.2%) were the
most common reasons for using CIH. The primary reason for discontinuing CIH was that
it was not helpful (42.1%). The primary reason for not using CIH since injury was
not knowing what options are available (40.7%).
Conclusions
These results point to the importance for rehabilitation clinicians to be aware that
their patients may be using 1 or more CIH approaches. Providers should be open to
starting a dialogue to ensure the health and safety of their patients because there
is limited information on safety and efficacy of CIH approaches in this population.
These results also set the stage for further analysis of this data set to increase
our knowledge in this area.
Keywords
List of abbreviations:
CI (confidence interval), CIH (complementary and integrative health care), SCI (spinal cord injury), SCIMS (Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems), US (United States)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 28, 2021
Accepted:
April 29,
2021
Received in revised form:
April 1,
2021
Received:
December 30,
2020
Footnotes
Supported by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) (grant no. 90SI5015, Craig Hospital; grant no. 90SI5026, Kessler Foundation; grant no. 90SI5022, Shirley Ryan AbilityLab; grant no. 90SI5021, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital; grant no. 90SI5027, Texas Institute for Rehabilitation Research).
Disclosures: Ross Zafonte serves on the Scientific Advisory Boards of Myomo, Oxeia Biopharma, ElMINDA and Biodirection. The other authors have nothing to disclose.
Identification
Copyright
© 2021 The American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
