Health and economic benefits of physical activity for patients with spinal cord injury

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a traumatic, life-disrupting event with an annual incidence of 17,000 cases in the US. SCI is characterized by progressive physical deconditioning due to limited mobility and lack of modalities to allow safe physical activity that may partially offset these deleterious ph...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:ClinicoEconomics and outcomes research 2016-01, Vol.8, p.551-558
Main Authors: Miller, Larry E, Herbert, William G
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
ambulation
Cardiovascular disease
Chronic illnesses
cost
Disability
Economic aspects
Exercise
exoskeleton
Gait
Life expectancy
Medical prognosis
Mortality
Paralysis
paraplegia
Patients
physical activity
Physical fitness
Physiology
Quality of life
Rehabilitation
Review
Spinal cord injuries
spinal cord injury
Systematic review
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a traumatic, life-disrupting event with an annual incidence of 17,000 cases in the US. SCI is characterized by progressive physical deconditioning due to limited mobility and lack of modalities to allow safe physical activity that may partially offset these deleterious physical changes. Approximately, 50% of patients with SCI report no leisure-time physical activity and 15% report leisure-time physical activity below the threshold where meaningful health benefits could be realized. Collectively, about 363,000 patients with SCI, or 65% of the entire spinal cord injured population in the US, engages in insufficient physical activity and represents a target population that could derive considerable health benefits from even modest physical activity levels. Currently, the annual direct costs related to SCI exceed US$45 billion in the US. Rehabilitation protocols and technologies aimed to improve functional mobility have potential to significantly reduce the risk of medical complications and cost associated with SCI. Patients who commence routine physical activity in the first post-injury year and experience typical motor function improvements would realize US$290,000 to US$435,000 in lifetime cost savings, primarily due to fewer hospitalizations and less reliance on assistive care. New assistive technologies that allow patients with SCI to safely engage in routine physical activity are desperately needed.
ISSN:1178-6981
1178-6981
DOI:10.2147/CEOR.S115103