View clinical trials related to Tetraplegia.
Filter by:The main objective of our work is to develop and test the safety and feasibility of a home-based upper limb rehabilitation program for individuals with tetraplegia. The program will consist of simultaneous non-invasive spinal cord stimulation and immersive virtual exercises of the upper limbs, with a focus on shoulder and elbow function.
Corsets are often used in the management of patients with a spinal cord injury. They may help to rigidify the patients' trunk which might help some patients to sit upright; their use may also reduce the sensation of dyspnea some patients have while sitting upright. Due to spinal cord injury, abdominal muscles are weakened which can contribute to alter the respiratory function of the patients. But the corset by rigidifying the abdominal wall can improve the efficiency of the respiratory muscles in some patients and reduce dyspnea in the sitting position for some patients. However, when patients with spinal cord injury are followed over time, one can observe that some patients discontinue corset use. The investigators observed that the patients who pursue the corset use still have a significant improvement of their respiratory function with the corset while the patients who have discontinued the use have improved their respiratory function in the upright position (without the corset). As of now, the investigators do not know whether the use of the corset is discontinued because of a spontaneous improvement of the respiratory function or whether discontinuing the use of the corset may help to develop abdominal spasticity and therefore to improve respiratory function. The investigators seek to investigate this issue in order to optimize the management of patients who present spinal cord injury.
Respiratory complications continue to be one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in people with spinal cord injury, especially among cervical and higher thoracic injuries. Both inspiratory and expiratory function are often severely decreased, leading to respiratory complications, such as atelectasis, pneumonia and ventilatory failure. The prevention of these respiratory complications needs to begin immediately after injury. To achieve effective expelling of secretions before they form mucus plugs, it is essential to improve patients ability to cough. Manually assisting the cough is one way of increasing cough flow, but an effective cough also requires adequate lung volumes. The emphasis should therefore be on expansion of the lungs before coughing. One way of expanding the lungs is by air-stacking. In air-stacking insufflations are stacked in the lungs to maximally expand them. Cough can be valued by measuring Peak Cough Flow (PCF). By combining air-stacking with manually assisted cough the PCF can be increased sufficiently. The aim of this study is to compare the effect of two different air-stacking techniques on PCF, air-stacking on a respirator versus air-stacking with a manual resuscitator.