Balance and obstacle crossing ability in independent ambulatory spinal cord injury patients

Abstract

Patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) are frequently having impairment of movement control particularly a complex task such as walking and balance control. This study investigated ability of 18 independent ambulatory SCI patients to control their balance by using Berg Balance Scale (BBS), Timed Up and Go Test (TUGT) and to walk over small obstacles (wide or high obstacles at the size 1, 4 and 8 cm., 6 conditions totally), which are the sizes that commonly found at home and in the community. Each obstacle was placed at the middle of the 10-meter walkway. Results demonstrated that most of independent ambulatory subjects still had problem in balance control that resulting in exposing to a high risk of fall (BBS = 32.83 + 13.66 scores and TUGT = 45.57 + 18.83 seconds). In addition, 39 % of subjects were unable to successfully walk over obstacle(s).  There were clinical significance of balance control (BBS) between subjects who were able and unable to successfully walk over an obstacle (> 6 scores). The results may indicate that the development of balance control and obstacle crossing in patients with SCI who are able to walk independently is important to decrease risk of accident after discharge.