Quality of life, concern of falling and satisfaction of the sit-ski aid in sit-skiers with spinal cord injury: Observational study

Abstract

Study design Observational study. Objective To describe (1) user satisfaction, (2) the Quality of Life (QoL) and (3) fear of falling in individuals with tetraplegia or paraplegia who used a mono-ski for sit-skiing. Setting Spinal units and Sport associations. Methods An observational study of people with spinal cord injury (SCI) who used a sit-ski. Participants were recruited in various SCI rehabilitation centers and sport associations. Participants completed three assessment tools: The Quebec User Evaluation of Satisfaction with assistive Technology (QUEST 2.0); the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQoL-BREF); the Spinal Cord Injury Fall Concern Scale (SCI-FCS). Results were evaluated with chi-squared test and Kolmogorov–Smirnov’s test and the significance was set for p values < 0.05. Results Fifteen participants were included. Results showed positive and statistically significant values for all the items of the SCI-FCS related to fear of falling, and for most of the items of the WHOQoL-BREF related to QoL and the QUEST 2.0 related to satisfaction with the device. Conclusions This study highlights that sit skiing is correlated with high levels of satisfaction with the mono-ski, increases in QoL, and low levels of fear of falling. In adding these findings to the existent literature, it can be stated with more certainty that sit-skiing is a sport that can be recommended in rehabilitation and sports therapy programs.