Rehabilitation of traumatic spinal cord lesions--results of 145 cases treated between 1973 and 1977.

An analysis of 145 traumatic spinal cord lesions admitted to the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, between 1973 and 1977 is made. The annual incidence based on this figure and on a population of 2.2 million was 16.3 per million population. 68% of the cases were within the employable age group of 15 to 45 years. 40% of them were due to industrial accidents, 36% from road traffic accidents and 24% resulted from other causes like domestic accidents, sports mishaps and criminal violence. An analysis of the site of lesion shows that 71 cases had lesions at the cervical level, 50 at the thoracic lumbar region, 9 at the upper thoracic region and 15 at the lumbar region. After a course of rehabilitaion 66% were able to walk either independently or with some form of aids, 27% were wheelchair-bound and the rest were bedridden at time of discharge. In self-care activities 79% were independent, 15% were partially dependent and the rest totally dependent after rehabilitation.