Dynamic body-weight support to boost rehabilitation outcomes in patients with non-traumatic spinal cord injury: an observational study.
Justin P Huber, Lumy Sawaki
PMID 33256797WHAT IT FOUND
The main daily-function improvement scores did not show a clear difference once the study's stricter comparison rule was applied.
One bowel and bladder area favored dynamic body-weight support.
Key findings
01The DBWS group's mean FIM gain was 48 points and the historical control group's mean FIM gain was 35 points, but the difference did not reach significance after correcting for multiple comparisons.
02FIM efficiency did not differ significantly between the DBWS group and the historical control group (p = 0.543).
03In the secondary subscore analysis, the DBWS group had a significantly higher sphincter-control gain of 7.9 FIM points (p = 0.011).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
Only 11 people were in each group, so the study is small. It was a retrospective chart review, so treatment assignment was not randomized and the groups were not matched. The groups differed at baseline: historical controls had a mean weight of 264 pounds and dynamic support participants had a mean weight of 165 pounds, and injury levels also differed. The amount of dynamic body-weight support was not controlled, because it was set by therapist discretion and patient tolerance. Historical controls could still use other body-weight support tools such as walkers, parallel bars and bracing, so the comparison is not dynamic support versus no support. The device was used within usual inpatient rehabilitation, so its separate contribution cannot be isolated. The significant sphincter finding was a secondary subscore, and the primary total FIM outcomes were not significant after correction.
Declared interests
The paper names funding from the Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Hospital Endowed Chair in Stroke and Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation. No other conflicts of interest are stated.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that dynamic body-weight support improves rehabilitation outcomes. The device was used within usual inpatient rehabilitation, so its separate contribution cannot be isolated. The primary FIM gain and FIM efficiency comparisons were not significant after the study's correction for multiple comparisons. The sphincter result was a secondary subscore from 11 participants in each group.