Complications that may occur in those with spinal cord injuries who participate in sport

The purpose of this study was to determine the risk of developing complications in paraplegics taking part in sport. It is a retrospective study of patients with complete spinal cord injury at the spinal level of C7--cauda equina/conus injury, and consists of 61 patients admitted to the Beitostølen Healthsportcenter, Norway. All of them had achieved satisfactory bladder/bowel function. The wheelchair dependents were all skilled in the use of the wheelchair. They participated in a training programme with an average duration of 25 days. Different activities were tried, such as weight-lifting, pulking, swimming, volleyball, calisthenics in a group, horseback-riding, archery, tabletennis, canoeing, totalling 11 955 training hours. During the training period the following complications were observed: urinary tract infections, pressure sores, and sprains and strains. There were 30 complications, most of them only of minor type. The incidence of complications, expressed as number of complications/1000 training-hours was, for urinary tract infections--0,50, pressure sores 0,42, sprains/strains 1,33, others 0,25: in all 2,51. Sprains and strains were the most common complications, accounting for about 55 per cent of the total, all of which were successfully treated before discharge. Sport activities are an important part of the rehabilitation of the spinal cord injured and the risk of serious complications appears to be low.