University of Pittsburgh

Research

Opportunities for Remote Research

UPMC-SCI has several studies that are currently enrolling paritcipants which offer the opportunity for you to participate from home. These include studies that (1) evaluate the effectiveness of a web-based wheelchair maintenance training program, (2) examine wheelchair breakdown and secondary consequences and their relationship to participation, and (3) investigate the relationship between pain and mobility following spinal cord injury. You may be elgibile to participate in these studies, please read the study descriptions below to find out more! 

If you have any questions, please contact us directly at 412-392-7374 or at smithij@upmc.edu.

Image of wifi connected computer, tablet, smartphone

 

Web-Based Wheelchair Maintenance Training Program

The wheelchair is likely the single most enabling technology a clinician can provide but the impact is compromised when it cannot be utilized when it does not work or fails before insurance is willing to replace it.  Wheelchair breakdowns are incredibly common and consequences of breakdowns include missing work and appointments, being stranded, and being injured.  Wheelchairs are frequently poorly maintained.  Lack of training and poor wheelchair quality can lead to secondary disabilities.  These secondary disabilities can be a result of injuries caused by wheelchair failures and/or tips and falls.  This type of training provides the opportunity to provide education to wheelchair users and professionals to attempt to decrease breakd  owns and secondary consequences without the burden of travel to a wheelchair center for maintenance training.

This study is open to inviduals with spinal cord injuries who use a wheelchair as their primary means of mobility. It is a web-based study coducted completely online. In addition, there is an open-access version of the training that anyone can access. Click Here to Learn More About the Study and Participate!

Web-Based Transfer Training Program

Mastering the skills to perform transfers independently is a key milestone of functional rehabilitation because transfers are essential for daily living, performed on average 15-20 times per day, ranked among the most strenuous tasks of daily living, and believed to be a major contributor in the development of pain and injury at the shoulders. Unfortunately, time in rehab is becoming more limited for wheelchair users and access to training is often restricted by transportation and access to knowledgeable clinicians.  The web based training materials we are evaluating in this study may be an excellent low cost alternative with broad accessibility to provide individuals with the training in this key area. 

Enrollment for this study is complete, however there is an open-access version of the training that anyone can access. Click Here to Learn More!

Equity and Quality in Assistive Technology for Individuals with Spinal Cord Injury (EQuATe)

The objective of this project is to investigate the equity and quality of assistive technology (AT) provision and outcomes for individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). The aims of this study are: 1) Collect descriptive data on AT used by individuals with SCI including wheelchair make, model, failures and repairs. Collect longitudinal data through a smartphone app. This data will enable us to track the impact of insurance market changes, find differences in wheelchair failures and present this information to wheelchair ¬users. 2) Explore the influence of individual characteristics such as financial strain, educational quality, health literacy, geographic location and self-efficacy on differences in AT quality and other health related outcomes for individuals with SCI. 3) Broadly disseminate findings related to wheelchair failures and repairs to the wheelchair community thus enabling individuals with SCI to make informed choices.

This study involves the use of a smartphone app and is open to anyone who uses a wheelchair as their primary means of mobility. Click Here to Learn More About the Study and Participate!

Lead Center: University of Pittsburgh Model Center of Spinal Cord Injury

Collaborating Centers:

  • Northern New Jersey Spinal Cord Injury System
  • Midwest Regional Spinal Cord Injury Case System
  • Mount Sinai Hospital Spinal Cord Injury Model System
  • New England Regional Spinal Cord Injury Center
  • Northeast Ohio Regional Spinal Cord Injury System
  • Ohio Regional Spinal Cord Injury Model System
  • Northwest Regional Spinal Cord Injury System
  • South Florida Spinal Cord Injury Model System
  • University of Alabama at Birmingham Spinal Cord Injury Model System

Examining Pain and Mobility in Individuals with Spinal Cord Injury

Ambulation is a frequent patient-reported goal after a spinal cord injury, and therefore, gait training is a common intervention during rehabilitation.The goal of this study is to investigate if there are differences in pain levels among individuals with SCI who become ambulators versus those who use a wheelchair for mobility and how ability to perform an aspect of mobility (capacity) compares with the frequency of actually performing the task (performance).

This study is open to inviduals with spinal cord injuries. It is a brief web-based questionnaire administered completely online. Click Here to Learn More About the Study and Participate!

Characterizing Activity Patterns After Spinal Cord Injury

For an individual who has experienced a spinal cord injury (SCI) the first question is often, “will I walk again?”. However, for many of those with moderate impairments of strength and sensation, existing clinical prediction rules offer little insight into how treatment interventions should be targeted. Aim 1 of this study is to predict mobility at discharge and at 1-year post-discharge, based upon patient characteristics and activity during inpatient rehabilitation to improve patient and clinician understanding of anticipated changes in mobility in the year following SCI to appropriately target expectations and interventions to maximize functional outcomes. Aim 2 of this proposal is to evaluate changes in functional mobility (i.e., wheeling ⇆ walking or changes in activity within mode) in the first year post injury and their impact on quality of life and participation. There are factors following discharge that challenge or enhance the sustainability of walking for functional mobility including energy costs, neurologic recovery and biopsychosocial factors such as resilience, self-efficacy, environment, and caregiver support. The association between these factors and post-discharge changes in mobility are not well understood. Using wearable sensors we will quantify time spent walking and wheeling to identify transitions between walking and wheeling, identify factors that contribute to these transitions and investigate their impact on participation.

This study is open to individuals acutely after spinal cord injury receiving inpatient rehabilitation at UPMC Mercy.

Characterizing the Experience of Spasticity after Spinal Cord Injury

The purpose of this study is to assess how spasticity is experienced by individuals with SCI, which characteristics of spasticity have the greatest impact on activities of daily living and the perceived value of current treatment strategies. 

This research was conducted online with over 1200 participants sharing their experiences and challenges. These observational findings will inform the development of future studies to evaluate which interventions are most effective for the individual based on the way spasticity presents in that individual (i.e., whether it presents primarily as spams or as stiffness).

Lead Center: Southeastern Regional Spinal Cord Injury Model System

Collaborating Centers:

  • University of Pittsburgh Model Center of Spinal Cord Injury
  • Northern New Jersey Spinal Cord Injury System
  • Northwest Regional Spinal Cord Injury System
  • Regional Spinal Cord Injury Center of the Delaware Valley
  • South Florida Spinal Cord Injury Model System

Residential Instability in Chronic Spinal Cord Injury

This study seeks to understand why individuals move and where they move and if movers and non-movers differ in health and community participation outcomes and in healthcare access and use.  This study will assess how many times individuals with SCI have moved since original injury and reasons why someone moves in addition to household members, ownership, accessibility, and perceptions of neighborhoods related to each move. 

Lead Center: Northern New Jersey Spinal Cord Injury System

Collaborating Centers:

  • University of Pittsburgh Model Center of Spinal Cord Injury
  • Southern California Spinal Cord Injury Model System
  • Northeast Ohio Regional Spinal Cord Injury Care System
  • Rocky Mountain Regional SCI System
  • Spaulding New England Regional Spinal Cord Injury Center

Early Predictors of Rehabilitation Outcomes After Acute Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury

The existence of integrated trauma systems and trauma registries has proved to be essential in improving trauma-related survival rates, with an overall reduction in risk of death of up to 25% when care was provided at a trauma center. The reduction in mortality is attributed to improved and effective triage in the field and highly specialized regional trauma centers that can provide skilled care in a timely manner. Delivering care for an individual based on mortality statistics is critical for patients’ survival, but to improve the delivery of care for those that survive, data points beyond mortality are required. The relationships between assessments and management protocols initiated at the scene, in the emergency department (ED) and acute care hospital with functional outcomes during rehabilitation needs to be known to further improve patient care. Currently separate data bases exist within emergency medical services (EMS), Trauma and Rehabilitation, but they don’t talk to each other. The merger of information from these databases will provide the information that may alter current decision based management protocols based on functional outcomes rather than mortality. 

Lead Center: Northeast Ohio Regional Spinal Cord Injury Care System

Collaborating Centers:
University of Pittsburgh Model Center of Spinal Cord Injury
Ohio Regional SCI Model System

Publications

Click here to find a current listing of Publications