Donal Munro Lecture: Functional and neurologic recovery following acute SCI

Abstract

Patient management in the current health care environment requires the provider to make reliable and valid clinical decisions regarding patient care, decisions that are cost effective and will lead to optimal functional improvement. Neurologic examination, according to the Standards for Neurological and Functional Classification of Spinal Injury developed by the American Spinal Injury Association, provides every clinician with simple clinical tools that are highly predictive of functional recovery following a spinal cord injury. The ability to predict motor recovery provides a rational basis to help support the provider's recommendation for the patient's goals and care planning, as well as differentiates care that is essential for improving functional outcomes from care that is not.