Prevalence of Upper Limb Neuropathy in Rehabilitated Spinal Cord Injured Patients in North India

ABSTRACT

Background: Upper extremities are principally adapted for grasping or seizing activities. In individuals with spinal cord injury, they are additionally used for transfers, wheelchair propulsion, and daily living activities, putting additional strain on the joints. For this reason, it is essential to distinguish the effects of these increased demands in terms of prevalence of peripheral neuropathies in rehabilitated spinal cord injured population from developing countries. Methods: Spinal cord Injury patient with a neurological level below T2, who were independent in activities of daily living was monitored during the yearly follow up. Electrodiagnostic study of median, ulnar, radial nerve was graded in a scale of 0-2 with 0 being normal, 1 being neuropathy of one hand and 2 being an association of both the hands and the final conclusion was based on this study. Results: There were 45 wheelchair users, 5 walker users, 30 elbow crutch users, 10 subjects using sticks and one subject with a unilateral transtibial amputation using an axillary crutches. Thirty eight patients were using tricycle for independent mobility. Among 55 patients using wheel chair CTS was observed in 70% patients. In the same group 24% had ulnar neuropathy and 16% had radial neuropathy.Conclusion: Findings of our study suggest that upper limb compressive neuropathy was highly prevalent among the spinal cord injury patients. Further, current study recorded carpal tunnel syndrome was the most common neuropathy incorporated with paraplegia patients especially using wheel chair and crutches. We strongly advocate for the importance of the modification of in the vocational instruments like light weight or electrical wheelchair etc along with improvement in accessories like grip style, gloves etc to avoid the constant pressure and repetitive trauma to upper limb of paraplegia patients with spinal cord injury