Our study is looking at individuals with C6-C7 spinal cord injury in power and manual wheelchairs to see if there is
a difference in the outcomes of 3 measures. The measures are: function (SCIM III), participation (CHART) and self-esteem
(RSES).
The C6-C7 SCI is a difficult level to prescribe wheelchairs for. Higher injuries are prescribed power and lower
injuries tend to be prescribed manual wheelchairs. The C6-C7 level is in this gray area where there is usually enough function
to propel a manual wheelchair but there is concern about shoulder problems. Sometimes a power chair is prescribed because
insurance
will pay for it; with power chairs prices that can seem to equal that of a new car most individuals could afford a manual
chair on their own before they could a power chair.
It is our hope that if any differences are found between the power
and manual chair users that our study can help inform patients and health care providers to make the best choice in wheelchair
prescription.
We also hope that if any differences are found that our study can provide a foundation for further research
to determine exactly why these differences are present.
Our research advisor is the amazing Jennifer Hastings PT, PhD, NCS. Yvette Griffiths, Hillary Robbins and myself (Christina Hamilton) are DPT students at the University
of Puget Sound. We just completed our first year! We are all very excited about this study and admittedly a little impatient
to see the results!
I hope that explains some more about our study. There
is a surprising lack of literature investigating wheel chair prescription and we hope to help rectify that a little bit.
In
regards to the study: we are located in the Pacific Northwest and hope to find most of our subjects in the Puget Sound area.
Two of us are located in Tacoma and the other in Seattle we are mobile and will meet any participants in a location of their
choosing. Two of us also have family in the Reno/Tahoe region and so would be able to accept participants from that area.
Also anybody that fits our criteria that might be traveling in these areas would also be welcome.
