Paraplegia
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Clinical Trial
Peripheral neuropathies in the upper extremities of paraplegic wheelchair marathon racers.
In order to know if peripheral neoropathies in the upper extremities of paraplegic individuals are induced by participating in wheelchair marathon races, we performed nerve conduction studies bilaterally on the median, ulnar, and radial nerves of 10 male wheelchair marathon racers, and on 10 male sedentary paraplegic individuals. In five of 10 paraplegic racers, and in nine of 10 sedentary paraplegics there was a decrease of motor nerve conduction velocities and/or prolongation of motor or sensory nerve distal latencies. ⋯ Although paraplegic racers had fewer peripheral neuropathies in the upper extremities than did sedentary paraplegics, ulnar lesions due to involvement of the deep motor branch and at the elbow were a characteristic feature of nerve injuries, presumably caused by wheelchair marathon racing. It is suggested that although a wheelchair marathon is generally a safe sport, wearing gloves and handling a wheelchair in the correct way during the race are necessary to prevent nerve injuries.
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This survey of traumatic spinal cord injuries in Japan from January 1990 to December 1992 was carried out by a statistical method of the nationwide epidemiological study. The number of the registered patients during these 3 years was 9752 and the mean response rate of every of the 47 prefectures was 51.4%. ⋯ The age distribution and the causes of spinal cord injuries are presented in detail. From the results of this study, the prevention campaign should be focused mainly on the following topics: sports and motorcycle accidents involving young people; traffic accidents involving adults; falling accidents involving aged people.