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ABSTRACT
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the sensitivity and responsiveness of the Segmental Assessment of Trunk Control (SATCo) for evaluating trunk control in children with spinal cord injury (SCI) receiving activity-based locomotor training (AB-LT).
Methods: Prospective study of nine outcomes for consecutively enrolled children in outpatient AB-LT. To evaluate sensitivity to change, linear-mixed models were constructed and adjusted for covariates: age at and time since SCI. To evaluate responsiveness, standardized response means and 95% confidence intervals were estimated per outcome.
Results: SATCo scores increased significantly (p < 0.05) regardless of chronicity, initial score, and injury level. The SATCo was the most responsive measure and the only outcome demonstrating a large effect size after 3 months of therapy.
Conclusions: Children with SCI receiving AB-LT improved trunk control regardless of chronicity, initial impairment, or prior experience. SATCo sensitivity and responsiveness support its usefulness in measuring trunk control in children with SCI.
Keywords:
Acknowledgments
Shelley A. Trimble, PT was our colleague and a career pediatric physical therapist. From her review of the scientific literature, she introduced the SATCo to the Pediatric NeuroRecovery Program at Frazier Rehab Institute as a potential instrument to measure trunk control and its improvement in children undergoing AB-LT. Shelley passed away on November 15, 2016. We want to especially recognize her contribution to this work and to the pediatric program. Additionally, we appreciate the time and expertise of the following people in reviewing drafts of the manuscript and/or study results: James D. Tomlinson, PT (Philadelphia, PA), Sandra Saavedra, PhD, PT (University of Hartford), Goutam Singh, PhD (University of Louisville, Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Centre), Mary Schmidt, MS PT, (Magee Rehabilitation Hospital), Colette Sacommano, PhD, MSLIS (NYC) and the faculty of the Neuroscience Collaborative Centre, Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Centre. The authors acknowledge Susan J. Harkema for her leadership as Director of the Reeve Foundation NeuroRecovery Network, Susan Howley of the Reeve Foundation for her continued support, and Kim Atkinson, DPT, Director of the Spinal Cord Medicine Program, Frazier Rehab Institute for her ongoing administrative support.
Declaration of interest
Author (ALB) declares a potential conflict of interest as co-owner of NeuroRecovery Ed, a source of evidence-based continuing education for activity-based therapies and standardized outcomes for adults and pediatric neurologic populations. All other authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.