Long-term body-weight supported treadmill training and subsequent follow-up in persons with chronic SCI: effects on functional walking ability and measures of subjective well-being.

摘要

Hicks et al reported on a clinical trial in which chronic incompletely paralyzed spinal cord-injured (SCI) patients have undergone a locornotor training on the treadmill with varying degrees of body weight support over a period of 12 months. The therapeutic interventions are similar to those we and others have been employing since the early 1990s (for a controlled trial see Wernig et al2) therefore, a closer comparison of the outcome and of methodical details is warranted. In both trials, several patients, wheelchair bound, nonambulat-ing at the onset of therapy (class 0 in the modified or unmodified 'Wernig scale'), made considerable progress in their locomotor capabilities, some reaching independent walking.