The clinical efficacy of body weight supported treadmill training for the recovery of walking ability and comprehensive function after thoracolumbar spinal cord injury / 中华物理医学与康复杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the clinical efficacy of body weight supported treadmill training (BWSTT) for the recovery of walking ability and comprehensive function after thoracolumbar spinal cord injury (SCI).Methods Sixty patients with SCIs in a thoracolumbar segment were assigned to a treatment group or a control group with 30 in each.Both groups received similar conventional rehabilitation training,but the patients in the treatment group were additionally treated with BWSTT (30 to 40 min,once daily,5 d/week,30 days for a course,a total 3 courses).The American Spinal Injury Association lower-extremity motor function assessment (ASIA),a functional comprehensive assessment (FCA),the walking ability assessment from the FCA (WA) and the modified Barthel index (MB1) were used in the assessment of the two groups before and after treatment.Results There were no significant differences in the two groups＇ average ASIA,FCA,WA or MBI results before treatment.After treatment ASIA,FCA,WA and MBI scores had all increased significantly in the treatment group compared with before treatment,and were significantly higher than in the control group.Conclusion As a supplement to conventional rehabilitation,BWSTT can improve walking ability and comprehensive function significantly after thoracolumbar spinal cord injury.