Bowel care practices in chronic spinal cord injury patients.

Kirshblum, S C; Gulati, M; O'Connor, K C; Voorman, S J · Arch Phys Med Rehabil · 1998

prospective_cohort · Level II

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Abstract

To determine current characteristics of bowel care practices of chronic spinal cord injury (SCI) patients. Prospective interview and examination of 100 SCI patients injured for more than 1 year. Freestanding rehabilitation outpatient SCI center. One hundred chronic SCI patients. The following bowel program characteristics were found: alternate-day programs were most common; most subjects performed their programs in the morning; and tetraplegic subjects performed their programs less often, used suppositories more often, required greater assistance, and took longer to complete their programs. Bowel dysfunction in chronic SCI need not be associated with complications in the majority of cases.

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