Introduction

UPDATE: A new Comprehensive Spinal Cord Injury Programme has replaced this old SCI programme. Follow this link to start the courses in the Comprehensive Spinal Cord Injury Programme.

Spinal Cord Injury refers to any damage to the Spinal Cord resulting from trauma, disease or degeneration with symptoms dependant on both the severity of injury and its location on the spinal cord. According to the World Health Organisation there is no reliable estimate of global prevalence of Spinal Cord Injury, but it is estimated that annual global incidence varies from 40 to 80 cases per million population, which means between 250,000 to 500,000 people acquire a Spinal Cord Injury every year. Approximately 90% of these cases occur as a result of traumatic causes, though the proportion of non-traumatic spinal cord injury appears to be growing.

Spinal Cord Injury is a complex pathology with many different clinical presentations. Best practice requires skills in assessment, treatment and rehabilitation when working with individuals with acute and chronic impairment as a result of a spinal cord injury. Spinal Cord Injury is a large topic area, and can be studied as an area of clinical specialism within Physiotherapy, therefore this programme of courses is by no means exhaustive. These courses will provide an overview of physiotherapy practice relating to Spinal Cord Injury to develop a foundation of knowledge that will enable you to assess and treat individuals with acute and chronic impairment as a result of Spinal Cord Injury. It will provide an understanding of the anatomy, structure, clinical presentation, assessment and management of spinal cord injury based on the latest evidence available.

Aims

This course aims to provide a basic theoretical understanding of the management of Spinal Cord Injury in order to equip physiotherapists with sufficient knowledge to manage a person following a Spinal Cord Injury. This includes assessing impairments, activity limitations and participation restrictions, setting appropriate goals for treatment, formulating an evidence-based treatment plan, implementing treatment and evaluating its success.

Outline

This programme consists of four separate online courses and an assignment:

1. Introduction to Spinal Cord Injury
2. Spinal Cord Injury Assessment
3. Management of Spinal Cord Injury
4. Final assignment

Target audience

This course is aimed at Physiotherapy and Physical Therapy clinicians, students and assistants. Other interested professionals such as athletic trainers, occupational therapists, nurses or medical doctors interested in this subject are also invited to participate.