@article{ref1,
title="Postural control and fear of falling in persons with low-level paraplegia",
journal="Journal of rehabilitation research and development",
year="2010",
author="John, Ligie T. and Cherian, Binu and Babu, Andrew",
volume="47",
number="5",
pages="497-502",
abstract="Falls are prevalent reasons for spinal cord injury (SCI). Postinjury fear of falling (FOF) can affect rehabilitation potential. We quantified FOF in 15 men with paraplegia (ambulatory with bilateral knee-ankle-foot orthoses [KAFOs] and elbow crutches) in correlation with their postural control at the center for long-term SCI rehabilitation of a tertiary-care teaching hospital. Our outcome measures comprised the American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale, the Modified Falls Efficacy Scale (MFES), postural sway measurements in the anteroposterior and mediolateral directions; and walking speed, cadence, and endurance. We assessed FOF with the MFES followed by measuring postural sway with a force platform. We measured gait parameters by asking the participant to ambulate on an indoor pathway. The mean postural sway was 314.13 +/- 184.05 mm (mean +/- standard deviation) in the anteroposterior direction and 222.16 +/- 112.34 mm in the mediolateral direction. The MFES score was 41.29 +/- 12.77, which showed a statistically significant negative correlation with postural control. The self-perception of confidence as measured by MFES might not really represent the actual postural stability in individuals with low-level paraplegia. FOF can adversely affect the postural control of individuals with low-level paraplegia. Clinicians should consider FOF as an influential factor in postural control during rehabilitation.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0748-7711",
doi="",
url="http://dx.doi.org/"
}