Tutor System an Indispensible Part of SCI Physical Therapy

It was revealed in a PRESS RELEASE on Sept. 23, 2011 that the U.S. Health Care System Doesn’t Meet Needs of Patients With Spinal Cord Injury.
New research highlights disparities in access for patients and lack of awareness about spinal cord injury by health care providers
Several studies in the current issue of Topics of Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation put a needed spotlight on the health and health care disparities experienced by individuals with spinal cord injury. This research highlights the disparities in access for patients and lack of awareness about SCI by health care providers.
“We health care providers can do a better job of dealing with health and health care disparities related to individuals with spinal cord injury, if we are better informed as to how and where the disparities occur,” says Michelle A. Meade, Ph.D., assistant professor in the University of Michigan Medical School’s Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and guest editor for the issue, which published this week.
U-M faculty wrote or co-authored several articles on the issue.
An article written by Lisa DiPonio, M.D., assistant professor, and Randy S. Roth, Ph.D., professor, both with the U-M Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, and several colleagues, highlights how Emergency Room providers might not have the knowledge to effectively treat individuals with chronic SCI. Conclusions were based on a survey of how familiar emergency medicine physicians were with SCI medicine and their responses to clinical vignettes about patients with SCI receiving critical care.
In an article about women with violently acquired SCI, Meade and her colleague Martin Forchheimer, MMP, also with the U-M Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, describe this vulnerable population and compare them to other women with SCI and men with violently acquired SCI.
Another article outlines the extent of the challenges that individuals with SCI face and lays out potential solutions to better meet the ongoing post-rehabilitation health care needs of people with SCI. Access to timely and appropriate health care is vital to the well-being of individuals with SCI, and they often have problems obtaining the kinds of health services they need when they need them.
There are approximately 265,000 people living with traumatic SCI in the U.S. More than 40 percent are the result of motor vehicle crashes, 27.9 percent are the result of falls, 15 percent from interpersonal violence and 8 percent from sports injuries. There are approximately 12,000 new cases of SCI in the U.S. each year.
Damage to the spinal cord can result in a loss of function that impacts the central, peripheral and autonomic nervous systems. The extent of impact depends on the degree and level of injury, which determines what muscles and functions might be affected. Individuals with SCI range in ability from those with high level or “complete” tetraplegia who require a ventilator to breathe, to individuals with incomplete paralysis who may be able to walk.
When SCI results in at least partial paralysis the HandTutor, ArmTutor, LegTutor and 3DTutor play an important part of the recovery process.
The Tutor system is a group of newly developed devices that are FDA and CE certified and are being used in leading U.S. and foreign hospitals. They have had success in improving movement of the hand, wrist, elbow, knee, ankle, foot and other joints of the body following traumatic injuries. The devices have been effective for spinal cord and brain injuries, stroke victims as well as for those suffering from Cerebral Palsy, Apraxia, MS, Parkinsons and other movement blocking disabilities. Intensive active exercise can reduce the rate of deterioration and this is what the ”Tutor” devices provide.
The system is also used in physical therapy clinics as well as the patient’s home with tele rehabilitation. The ”Tutors” are suitable for adults and children.