Assessing Tetraplegic Patients’ Neuro-Muscular Adaptations to a Six-Week Physiotherapeutic Programme

Spinal cord injury is a life-transforming condition of sudden onset that can have devastating consequences. A multidisciplinary, functional goal-oriented programme is required to enable the tetraplegic patient live as fully and independently life as possible. Physiotherapy is a very important part of the multidisciplinary team required to prevent many of the immobilization complications that may result in serious functional limitations, reduce overall morbidity and achieve well patterned recovery. This study therefore highlights the neuromuscular adaptations of tetraplegic patients to physiotherapy over a period of six weeks. Fifteen patients participated in this study and the results showed that even though changes in the musculoskeletal parameters are inevitable in tetraplegics, the extent/degree of reduction of these parameters was grossly minimized in the studied subjects through the administration of physiotherapeutic measures. However, further research using a large sample size will be required to evaluate the physiologic adaptations of the neuromuscular system to the physiotherapy interventions among patients with spinal cord injury.