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Case Series
Improvement of locomotor function in individuals with chronic spinal cord injury with antigravity treadmill: A case report
1 Consultant Physiotherapist, and Team Lead Neurological Physiotherapy, Department of Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine, Sir H N Reliance Foundation Hospital and Research Center, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
2 Director Department of Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine, Sir H N Reliance Foundation Hospital and Research Center, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
3 Deputy Consultant, Department of Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine, Sir H N Reliance Foundation Hospital and Research Center, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
4 Home Care Physiotherapist, Department of Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine, Sir H N Reliance Foundation Hospital and Research Center, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Address correspondence to:
Poonam Bajaj
Department of Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine, Sir H N Reliance Foundation Hospital and Research Center, Mumbai, Maharashtra,
India
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Article ID: 101391Z01PB2023
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Bajaj P, Contractor A, Salian S, Gala S. Improvement of locomotor function in individuals with chronic spinal cord injury with antigravity treadmill: A case report. Int J Case Rep Images 2023;14(1):94–98.ABSTRACT
Introduction: Access to safe and effective weight bearing exercise for spinal cord injury patients is a challenge. The objective of this case report is to highlight the potential use of an antigravity treadmill for improvement in locomotor function (gait speed and endurance) in two individuals with lower thoracic level, chronic, incomplete spinal cord injury (iSCI).
Case Series: Two young male patients, with lower thoracic level chronic iSCI underwent gait training in an anti-gravity treadmill. The 6 Minute Walk Test (6MWT) and 10 Meter Walk Test (10MWT) were used as outcome measures of the pre- and post-anti-gravity treadmill training period. Both participants showed improvement in the minimal clinically important difference in the 10MWT and the 6MWT. However only one of them met the minimal detectable change criteria for chronic iSCI. Our results are indicative but not conclusive of improvement in gait speed and endurance in chronic iSCI.
Conclusion: This case series demonstrates the potential use of the anti-gravity treadmill in improvement of locomotor performance in terms of gait speed and endurance in addition to providing a fall safe exercise environment for exercise benefitting individuals with iSCI.
Keywords: Anti-gravity treadmill, Exercise, Fall-prevention fall safe, Spinal cord injury
SUPPORTING INFORMATION
Acknowledgments
I would like to acknowledge the institution for providing the environment to be able to conduct such case studies, the patients who trust us to make their lives better and ethics committee members for permitting me to publish this data.
Author ContributionsPoonam Bajaj - Substantial contributions to conception and design, Acquisition of data, Analysis of data, Interpretation of data, Drafting the article, Revising it critically for important intellectual content, Final approval of the version to be published
Aashish Contractor - Analysis of data, Revising it critically for important intellectual content, Final approval of the version to be published
Shivangi Salian - Acquisition of data, Drafting the article, Final approval of the version to be published
Shreya Gala - Acquisition of data, Drafting the article, Final approval of the version to be published
Guarantor of SubmissionThe corresponding author is the guarantor of submission.
Source of SupportNone
Consent StatementWritten informed consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this article.
Data AvailabilityAll relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files.
Conflict of InterestAuthors declare no conflict of interest.
Copyright© 2023 Poonam Bajaj et al. This article is distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided the original author(s) and original publisher are properly credited. Please see the copyright policy on the journal website for more information.
