Article

Clinical and radiographic evaluation of the shoulders of tetraplegic
and paraplegic patients who attend rehabilitation program.The
objective of this study is to establish the usefulness of radiography as a trial
exam for shoulder pain in spinal cord injured patients.Setting:Hospital das
Clinicas-UNICAMP. Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil.Methods:Thirty-two shoulders of 16
patients were evaluated by clinical exam and radiography. Patients were divided
into two groups: paraplegic and tetraplegic. A control group of 16 normal
volunteer subjects was selected.Results:Shoulder pain was reported in 88.89% of
tetraplegic and 42.85% of paraplegic. The time of injury ranged from 1.5-22 years
(mean 7.88 years); patients had a mean age of 34.68 years (range, 21-57 years).
The acromioclavicular joint (ACJ) space ranged from 0.03-0.7 cm on the right side
and 0.15-0.7 cm on the left side, with a mean of 0.37 and 0.41 cm, respectively.
No correlation was found between shoulder pain and gender, age or time since
injury. There was a trend to correlation between shoulder pain and type of injury
with tetraplegic having a tendency to pain symptoms. On average, tetraplegic had
smaller ACJ.Conclusions:The small number of patients in this study did not allow
us to confirm the hypothesis that X-ray finding may indicate risk for shoulder
pain in spinal cord injury patients. A work with a greater number of subjects
could demonstrate association between shoulder pain and the reduced
acromioclavicular distance, making plain radiography a trial exam for spinal
cord-injured patients.

Langue : ANGLAIS