Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Evidence: Methods of the SCIRE Systematic Review

The Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Evidence (SCIRE) is a synthesis of the research evidence underlying rehabilitation interventions to improve the health of people living with SCI. SCIRE covers a comprehensive set of topics and in this issue we present six papers relevant to SCI rehabilitation clinicians (SCI inpatient rehabilitation practices, gait strategies, upper extremity reconstructive surgery, spasticity treatments, cardiovascular health and bone health). The SCIRE used a systematic and well-defined protocol to assess and synthesize the evidence. Each article was scored for its methodological quality using either the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) Score for randomized controlled trials or the Downs and Black Tool for other types of studies. Following the individual study assessment, conclusions were drawn about the accumulated studies for each topic of interest based on the levels of evidence, quality of studies and concurring evidence. The SCIRE project was designed for health professionals to inform them of best practices.