Tetraplegia And Paraplegia

Extensively illustrated and easy to use, this practical resource offers clear guidelines and step-by-step sequences for moving and working with individuals with differing levels of paralysis. It serves as both an ideal student textbook and a valuable clinical manual for therapists who see tetraplegic and paraplegic patients. Clear, practical, concise chapters present important information in an easily understandable approach. Spiral-bound format enables the book to lay flat for easy reference in the clinical setting or classroom. Excellent coverage of wheelchairs and wheelchair management is included. All illustrations have been redrawn for increased clarity, to enhance the clinical usefulness of this resource. Audit and evidence-based practice is incorporated throughout. Discussion of patient empowerment is included. The chapter on hands has been expanded to provide more in-depth coverage of this important topic. New discussion of levers has been added to this edition. New chapter on aging offers insight and considerations for treating aging and elderly patients with spinal cord injury. Expanded section on equipment provides details on current and state-of-the-art equipment used in practice.

"Every year between 250 000 and 500 000 people suffer a spinal cord injury, with road traffic crashes, falls and violence as the three leading causes. People with spinal cord injury are two to five times more likely to die prematurely. They also have lower rates of school enrollment and economic participation than people without such injuries. Spinal cord injury has costly consequences for the individual and society, but it is preventable, survivable and need not preclude good health and social inclusion. Ensuring an adequate medical and rehabilitation response, followed by supportive services and accessible environments, can help minimize the disruption to people with spinal cord injury and their families. The aims of International perspectives on spinal cord injury are to: ---assemble and summarize information on spinal cord injury, in particular the epidemiology, services, interventions and policies that are relevant, together with the lived experience of people with spinal cord injury; ---make recommendations for actions based on this evidence that are consistent with the aspirations for people with disabilities as expressed in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Combining 25 years of clinical, research and teaching experience, Dr Lisa Harvey provides an innovative 5-step approach to the physiotherapy management of people with spinal cord injury. Based on the International Classification of Functioning, this approach emphasises the importance of setting goals which are purposeful and meaningful to the patient. These goals are related to performance of motor tasks analysed in terms of 6 key impairments. The assessment and treatment performance of each of these impairments for people with spinal cord injury is described in the following chapters: training motor tasks strength training contracture management pain management respiratory management cardiovascular fitness training Dr Harvey develops readers' problem-solving skills equipping them to manage all types of spinal cord injuries. Central to these skills is an understanding of how people with different patterns of paralysis perform motor tasks and the importance of differentmuscles for motor tasks such as: transfers and bed mobility of people wheelchair mobility hand function for people with tetraplegia standing and walking with lower limb paralysis This book is for students and junior physiotherapists with little or no experience in the area of spinal cord injury but with a general understanding of the principles of physiotherapy. It is also a useful tool for experienced clinicians, including those keen to explore the evidence base that supports different physiotherapy interventions.

An examination, through personal narratives and reflective commentary, of life without sensation or movement in the body. In writing Still Lives, Jonathan Cole wanted to find out about living in a wheelchair, without having what he calls "the doctor/patient thing" intervene. He has done this by asking people with spinal cord injuries the simple question of what it is like to live without sensation and movement in the body. If the body has absented itself, where does the person reside? He describes his method in the first chapter: "I have gone to people, not with a white coat or a stethoscope...[but] to listen to their lives as they express them," and it is the candid and powerful narratives of twelve people with spinal cord injuries that form the heart of the book.Asking his simple question, Cole discovers that there is no single or simple answer. The twelve people with tetraplegia (known as quadriplegia in the US) or paraplegia whose stories he tells testify to similar impairments but widely differing experiences. Cole employs their individual responses to shape the book into six main sections: "Enduring," "Exploring," "Experimenting," "Observing," "Empowering," and, finally, "Continuing." Each concludes with a commentary on the broader issues raised. Still Lives moves from a view of impairment as tragedy to reveal the possibilities and richness of experience available to those living with spinal injuries. More universally, it offers new perspectives on our relation to our bodies. In exploring the creative and imaginative adjustments required to construct a "still life," it makes a plea for the able-bodied to adjust their view of this most profound of impairments.