C-Brace II Spinal Cord Injury

The test measures the distance that the patient can walk on a flat, hard surface, indoors, in a period of 6 minutes. The walk test is patient self-paced and assesses the level of functional capacity. Patients are allowed to stop and rest during the test, however, the timer does not stop. If the patient is unable to complete the time, the time stopped is noted and reason for stopping prematurely is recorded. This test will be administered while wearing a mask to measure oxygen consumption.

Muscle strength will be assessed by a trained clinical researcher

A scale used to measure the amount of tone in individuals with neurologic diagnoses. Tone is scored by passively moving the individual's limb and assessing the amount of resistance to movement felt by the examiner.

This test will examine the patient's gait speed. Patients will be positioned 1 meter before the start line and instructed to walk the entire 10 meter distance and past the end line approximately 1 meter. The distance before and after the course are meant to minimize the effect of acceleration and deceleration. Time will be recorded using a stopwatch and recorded to the one hundred of a second (ex: 2.15 sec). The test will be recorded 6 times: 3 times at the patient's self-selected speed, and 3 times at the patient's quickest, yet safest speed. The average of each of the 3 times will be recorded. Adequate rest in between trials will be given.

A rank ordering along a dimension of impairment, from the level of most severe impairment (0) to least severe impairment (20) based on the use of devices, braces, and physical assistance of one or more persons.

The Functional Gait Assessment is a 10 item test used to assess postural stability during walking tasks. It has a maximum score of 30 with each item being scored 0-3. It may be performed with or without an assistive device; however, individuals lose a point on all items requiring a device.

The Berg Balance Scale is a 14-item scale designed to measure balance in adults in a clinical setting. When scoring, the lowest response category that applies should be recorded. In each item, points should be deducted if the time or distance requirements are not met, the subject's performance requires supervision, or the subject requires assistance from support or examiner.

A test which times the ability of a patient to stand up from a standard chair with arm rests, walk 3 meters forward, turn around, walk 3 meters back to the chair, and sit back down in the chair.

The Gaitrite system automates measuring temporal and spatial gait parameters via an electronic walkway connected to a computer. The Gaitrite electronic walkway contains sensor pads encapsulated in a carpet to collect gait information. The system can be laid over any flat surface. The Gaitrite electronic walkway for the study shall be a minimum of 14 feet long. The Gaitrite data capture was chosen as measurement of the patient's overall gait quality. Patients will be asked to walk at a self-selected speed across the Gaitrite electronic walkway.

The ABC Scale is a self-report questionnaire consisting of 16 items designed to measure fear of falling. It assesses an individual's perception of balance during activities of daily living by asking the individual to rate their confidence during different activities on a 0% (no confidence) to 100% (completely confident) scale.

The mFES is self-report questionnaire consisting of 14 items which is designed to measure fear of falling in the elderly. It assesses an individual's perception of balance during activities of daily living by asking "how confident are you that you can do the following activities without falling."

The SCI-QOL are a battery of self-reported questionnaires completed by participants to evaluate perceptions of personal independence, ability to communicate needs with others, and sense of control over one's life in individuals with spinal cord injury.

A self-reported, health related, quality of life questionnaire. It measures quality of life in 5-components including mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort, and anxiety/depression. Each level is rated on a scale describing the degree of problems in that area. It ends with an overall health scale between 1-100 to rate the level of health the user is experiencing at the time of the test.

The Orthotic and prosthetics User Survey is a self-report questionnaire which is designed to evaluate the outcome of orthotic and prosthetic services. We will administer three of the five domains: lower limb functional measure, health-related quality of life, and satisfaction with device. The domains of upper limb functional measure and satisfaction with service are not applicable in this study.

The WHOQOL-BREF is a self-report questionnaire that measures an individual's perceived quality of life. It contains four domains which cover physical health, psychological health, social relationships, and environment. Scores range from 0-100 with 100 indicating a higher quality of life. The scores can be broken down by domain or taken as a whole. The WHOQOL-BREF is valid cross-culturally.

The purpose of this test is to standardize collection and reporting on the bowel in individuals with spinal cord injury. Questions include bowel care procedures, surgical procedures, time, frequency, and method of bowel practices.

The purpose of this test is to standardize collection and reporting of information on the lower urinary tract in individuals with spinal cord injury. Questions include surgical procedures, drugs, bladder emptying, and incontinence. These are used by clinicians and researchers so that data can be shared and combined easily.

A self-report questionnaire that assesses bowel and bladder function. It includes items regarding bowel and bladder emptying habit, complications from SCI-related surgery, assistance required, and perceived quality of life.

The Actigraph is a small accelerometer worn on a body part which can identify performance of functional activities during use.