EFFECTS OF PARAPLEGIA CAUSED BY SPINAL CORD INJURIES ON AN INDIVIDUAL’S FUNCTIONAL INDEPENDENCY AMONG PATIENTS ADMITTED TO REHABILITATION HOSPITAL RAGAMA AND NATIONAL HOSPITAL OF SRI LANKA

Objective: To describe functional independency of paraplegia caused by spinal cord injuries (SCI) and to describe the causes of paraplegia.  Setting: The study was carried out at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka and Rehabilitation Hospital Ragama. Participants: 100 traumatic paraplegic patients who were in the age range of 18 to 65 years. Outcome Measures: Modified Functional Independency Measure was used to measure functional independency. Results: Of the 100 individuals, 63% presented to be fallen from height and 55 % had caused complete transactions of the spinal cord. The commonest level of injury was the upper thoracic region i.e. T1- T8 (40%). Majority of paraplegics were “minimally assisted” for eating (48%) and grooming (38%). Bathing and dressing were “moderately assisted” by the majority (31%), where as 37% needed maximum assistance for toileting. A great majority needed total assistance for bowel (78%) and bladder (77%) management. Approximately 40% required maximum assistance for transferring and approximately 53% was dependent on total assistance in locomotion. Conclusion: The study concluded that fall from height to be the major cause for traumatic paraplegia and upper thoracic region is the most prone region for the injury. Traumatic paraplegics are with higher independency for functions involving the upper extremity. They were highly dependent for sphincter control and locomotion.