TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2010//
TI  - Postural control and fear of falling in persons with low-level paraplegia
JO  - Journal of rehabilitation research and development
A1  - John, Ligie T.
A1  - Cherian, Binu
A1  - Babu, Andrew
SP  - 497
EP  - 502
VL  - 47
IS  - 5
N2  - 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>
LA  - en
SN  - 0748-7711
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ID  - ref1
ER  -