Perspectives of individuals with chronic spinal cord injury following novel balance training involving functional electrical stimulation with visual feedback: a qualitative exploratory study.

The sample size was very small (five participants), so the findings are not generalizable to the wider spinal cord injury population. Data saturation may not have been reached due to the small, purposeful sample. The participants were heterogeneous in terms of time post-injury, ranging from one to eight years. One interview was conducted over the phone, which prevented the observation of non-verbal cues. The study relied on self-reported perceptions, which may be subject to recall bias or social desirability bias. The intervention was a combination of FES and visual feedback training, so it is not possible to determine which component drove the perceived benefits.

The study was funded by the University of Toronto. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.

Do not interpret these perceived benefits as proof that the specific combination of electrical stimulation and visual feedback is superior to other balance training methods. The study describes the subjective experiences of only five people who also received standard care or other therapies, and it did not compare this intervention to any control group.