Effect of eight weeks of modified dynamic neuromuscular Stabilization Exercises on wheelchair skills, balance, and upper limb disability in Patients with Incomplete Paraplegic Spinal Cord Injury: A Quasi-Experimental Study

Moghanloo, Eskandar; Ghasemi, Gholamali; Sadeghi, Morteza; Ghasemi Kahrizsangi, Navidreza

doi:10.22084/rsr.2025.30811.1772

Effect of eight weeks of modified dynamic neuromuscular Stabilization Exercises on wheelchair skills, balance, and upper limb disability in Patients with Incomplete Paraplegic Spinal Cord Injury: A Quasi-Experimental Study

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Eskandar moghanloo ¹

Gholamali Ghasemi ¹

morteza sadeghi ¹

Navidreza Ghasemi Kahrizsangi ²

¹ Department of Sports Injuries and Corrective Exercise, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran.

² Faculty of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.

10.22084/rsr.2025.30811.1772

Abstract

Background and Aim: Spinal cord injury leads to a decline in motor function, balance, hand performance, and quality of life. The present study aimed to determine the effectiveness of modified dynamic neuromuscular Stabilization exercises on wheelchair skills, balance, hand performance, and quality of life in patients with incomplete paraplegic spinal cord injury.
Methods: This semi-experimental study included 10 male spinal cord injury patients (Age: 34.7±7.40 years, Height: 175.8±8.75, Weight: 68.9±11.69, Duration of Injury: 16.9±3.54) who were purposively selected based on the research entry criteria. The variables of wheelchair skill, seated balance, shoulder function, and quality of life of these individuals were measured using the Wheelchair Skill Test (WST), Modified Functional Reach Test (MFRT), Disability of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand questionnaire (DASH), and Quality of Life Index (QLI), respectively. Subsequently, the participants did not receive any specific training for eight weeks, after which mid-term assessments were conducted. The participants then performed modified DNS exercises for another eight weeks(3 sessions per week, 60 minutes each), followed by a final post-test. Data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA (P≤0.05).
Results: The results showed that the measured parameters in the participants significantly improved after the completion of the training period compared to the non-training period (P ≤ 0.05).
Conclusion: It appears that performing DNS exercises leads to improvements in the measured parameters in individuals with spinal injuries. Consequently, this training method can be recommended in the physical rehabilitation process for these individuals.

Keywords

Spinal cord injury

Neuromuscular Exercises

Wheelchair skills

Sitting balance

Shoulder function

Subjects