Monitoring standing wheelchair use after spinal cord injury: A case report

Abstract

Purpose: An important issue in spinal cord injury (SCI) research is whether standing can yield positive health benefits. However, quantifying dose of standing and establishing subject compliance with a standing protocol is difficult. This case report describes a method to monitor dose of standing outside the laboratory, describes the standing patterns of one subject, and describes this subject's satisfaction with the standing protocol. Method: A man with T-10 complete paraplegia agreed to have his commercially available standing wheelchair instrumented with a custom-designed logging device for a 2-year period. The micro-controller- based logger, under custom software control, was mounted to the standing wheelchair. The logger recorded date, duration, angle of standing, and start/stop times. Results: The client exceeded a suggested minimum dosage of standing per month (130.4% of goal), choosing to stand for short bouts (mean = 11.57 min) at an average angle of 61°, on an average 3.86 days per calendar week. He was generally very satisfied with the standing device and provided subjective reports of improved spasticity and bowel motility. Conclusions: This case report describes a standing and surveillance system that allows quantification of standing dose. Future controlled studies are needed to evaluate whether standing can beneficially affect secondary complications after SCI. © 2005 Taylor & Francis Group Ltd.