Functional Independence in Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury Patients with Neuropathic Pain: A Cross-Sectional Study
Abstract
Background: Traumatic spinal cord injury is a severe neurological condition that cause the life-long disability. Impairments are associated with motor and sensory dysfunctions. Central neuropathic pain is a complication after spinal cord injury.
Objective: To find out the functional independence in traumatic spinal cord patients with neuropathic pain.
Methodology: This is descriptive cross-sectional study, which included the sample size of 65 by using WHO sample size calculator as a non-probability purposive sampling technique. The study included paraplegia patients with neuropathic pain after six month of traumatic spinal cord injury with age 25-50 years which included both male and female gender. Other neurological condition that causing the neuropathic pain were excluded from the study. Data analysis was done by using Statistical Package for Social Science.
Results: Out of 65 patients,70.8%(n=46) were male and 29.2%(n=19) were females. The mean age of subject was 36.62 ± 11.819 years. Descriptive analysis of total score of Spinal Cord Independence Measure III showed with mean 47.77 ±15.161 and the total score of Self Administrative Lead Assessment of Neuropathic Sign and Symptoms showed with mean 14.88 ± 5.045 years confirming the moderate functional dependence of patients.
Conclusion: The moderate functional independence was found in traumatic spinal cord injury patients with neuropathic pain.
Keywords: Functional Independence, Neuropathic pain, Traumatic spinal cord injury
References
Alizadeh A, Dyck SM, Karimi-Abdolrezaee S. Traumatic spinal cord injury: an overview of pathophysiology, models and acute injury mechanisms. Frontiers in neurology. 2019;10:282.
Fehlings M, Singh A, Tetreault L, Kalsi-Ryan S, Nouri A. Global prevalence and incidence of traumatic spinal cord injury. Clinical Epidemiology. 2014:309.
Dristi RH. Functional independence measure association with pressure sore risk among the people with spinal cord injury at Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP). 2020.
Bennett J, Das JM, Emmady PD. Spinal cord injuries. StatPearls [Internet]: StatPearls Publishing; 2024.
Dobkin BH. Paraplegia and spinal cord syndromes. Bradley’s Neurology in Clinical Practice E–Book. 2021;356.
Shiao R, Lee-Kubli CA. Neuropathic Pain After Spinal Cord Injury: Challenges and Research Perspectives. Neurotherapeutics: the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics. 2018;15(3):635-53.
Viswanath O, Urits I, Burns J, Charipova K, Gress K, McNally A, et al. Central Neuropathic Mechanisms in Pain Signaling Pathways: Current Evidence and Recommendations. Advances in therapy. 2020;37(5):1946-59.
Bouhassira D. Neuropathic pain: definition, assessment and epidemiology. Revue Neurologique. 2019;175(1-2):16-25.
Maldonado RJ, De Jesus O. Hyperesthesia. StatPearls. Treasure Island (FL) ineligible companies. Disclosure: Orlando De Jesus declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.: StatPearls Publishing Copyright © 2025, StatPearls Publishing LLC.; 2025.
Kim HY, Lee HJ, Kim T-l, Kim E, Ham D, Lee J, et al. Prevalence and characteristics of neuropathic pain in patients with spinal cord injury referred to a rehabilitation center. Annals of rehabilitation medicine. 2020;44(6):438-49.
Yang R, Guo L, Wang P, Huang L, Tang Y, Wang W, et al. Epidemiology of spinal cord injuries and risk factors for complete injuries in Guangdong, China: a retrospective study. PLoS ONE. 2014;9(1):e84733.
Möller F, Rupp R, Weidner N, Gutenbrunner C, Kalke YB, Abel RF. Long term outcome of functional independence and quality of life after traumatic SCI in Germany. Spinal Cord. 2021;59(8):902-9.
Abou L, Rice LA. The associations of functional independence and quality of life with sitting balance and wheelchair skills among wheelchair users with spinal cord injury. The journal of spinal cord medicine. 2024;47(3):361-8.
Burke D, Fullen BM, Stokes D, Lennon O. Neuropathic pain prevalence following spinal cord injury: A systematic review and meta-analysis. European journal of pain (London, England). 2017;21(1):29-44.
Shoaib M, Rahman AA, Shahnawaz HA. Frequency of Neuropathic Pain and its Effects on Rehabilitation Outcomes, Balance Function and Quality of Life among People with Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury. Pakistan Journal of Medical & Health Sciences. 2022;16(02):1191-.
Burke D, Fullen BM, Stokes D, Lennon O. Neuropathic pain prevalence following spinal cord injury: A systematic review and meta‐analysis. European Journal of Pain. 2017;21(1):29-44.
Renne A, Proaño-Zamudio JA, Pinkes N, Sanchez SE, Velmahos GC, Salim A, et al. Loss of independence after traumatic injury: a patient-centered study. Surgery. 2023;174(4):1021-5.
Noreau L, Cobb JE, Noonan VK, Leblond J, Dumont FS. Impact of neuropathic pain on participation: perspectives from the Canadian SCI community survey. Spinal Cord. 2021;59(2):141-50.
Singh A, Tetreault L, Kalsi-Ryan S, Nouri A, Fehlings MG. Global prevalence and incidence of traumatic spinal cord injury. Clinical epidemiology. 2014:309-31.
Cavalli E, Mammana S, Nicoletti F, Bramanti P, Mazzon E. The neuropathic pain: An overview of the current treatment and future therapeutic approaches. International journal of immunopathology and pharmacology. 2019;33:2058738419838383.
López-de-Uralde-Villanueva I, Gil-Martínez A, Candelas-Fernández P, de Andrés-Ares J, Beltrán-Alacreu H, La Touche R. Validity and reliability of the Spanish-language version of the self-administered Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs (S-LANSS) pain scale. Neurología (English Edition). 2018;33(8):505-14.
Walker SM, Peters J, Verriotis M, Farag F, Jay MA, Howard RF. Sensitivity and Specificity of a Neuropathic Screening Tool (Self-Report Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs, S-LANSS) in Adolescents With Moderate-Severe chronic Pain. The Journal of Pain. 2024;25(2):451-65.
Khamnon N, Amatachaya S, Wattanapan P, Musika N, Jitmongkolsri P, Kongngoen N, et al. Reliability and concurrent validity of the Spinal Cord Independence Measure III among rehabilitation professionals. Spinal Cord. 2022;60(10):875-81.
Rosner J, de Andrade DC, Davis KD, Gustin SM, Kramer JLK, Seal RP, et al. Central neuropathic pain. Nature reviews Disease primers. 2023;9(1):73.
Ahmad N, Akram MJ, Hussain H, Imtiaz I, Khan N, Qi LJRMJ. Effectiveness of post facilitation stretch technique versus myofascial release in piriformis syndrome: A Randomized controlled trial. 2022;47(4):936-.
Andresen S, Biering-Sørensen F, Hagen E, Nielsen JF, Bach F, Finnerup N. Pain, spasticity and quality of life in individuals with traumatic spinal cord injury in Denmark. Spinal cord. 2016;54(11):973-9.
Aquarone RL, Nogueira PC. Central neuropathic pain: implications on quality of life of spinal cord injury patients. Revista Dor. 2015;16:280-4.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 All Articles are made available under a Creative Commons "Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International" license. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Copyrights on any open access article published by Journal Riphah college of Rehabilitation Science (JRCRS) are retained by the author(s). Authors retain the rights of free downloading/unlimited e-print of full text and sharing/disseminating the article without any restriction, by any means; provided the article is correctly cited. JRCRS does not allow commercial use of the articles published. All articles published represent the view of the authors and do not reflect the official policy of JRCRS.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

