How much and what type of exercises and training were provided to people with spinal cord injury as part of usual physiotherapy and occupational therapy in the SCI-MT Trial?

STUDY DESIGN: A descriptive quantitative study.

OBJECTIVES: To determine how much and what type of exercises and training were provided as part of usual physiotherapy and occupational therapy to participants of the SCI-MT Trial (the Early and Intensive Motor Training for People with Spinal Cord Injuries Trial). This information is important because the SCI-MT Trial concluded that additional motor training is redundant if people with SCI receive equivalent usual care as what was provided to participants of the SCI-MT Trial.

SETTINGS: Fifteen spinal injury units across Europe and Australia.

METHODS: Data were collected on the time participants of both groups of the SCI-MT Trial (n = 220) attended physiotherapy and occupational therapy provided as part of usual care over the 10-week intervention period. The International Spinal Cord Injury Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy Basic Data Set was used to capture time spent on activity and impairment directed categories of exercises and training.

RESULTS: Participants attended a median (interquartile range) of 8.3 (6.2 to 11.4) hours of physiotherapy and occupational therapy per week. Approximately 70% of therapy time was spent actively exercising or training with a median of 3.8 h per week spent on activity-directed and 1.9 h per week spent on impairment-directed exercises and training.

CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study detail the amount and type of physiotherapy and occupational therapy that needs to be provided as part of usual rehabilitation care to render additional motor training redundant.