Spasticity and pain: the effect on quality of life in individuals with spinal cord injury

  • P. Mathiopoulou
  • M.E. Evangelopoulos
Keywords: spinal cord injury, pain, spasticity, quality of life, life satisfaction

Abstract

The following article is a literature review on how spasticity and pain affect the quality of life in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). Spinal cord injury affects a patient’s life in many ways, particularly following initial trauma, to confront numerous secondary health conditions. Spasticity and pain represent major SCI complications. Another significant factor for persons with spinal cord injury is the quality of their life and how it is affected by spasticity and pain. Patients with SCI demonstrate lower quality of life than the general population but there also seems to exist a negative correlation among pain, spasticity and quality of life. Patients that experience pain or/and spasticity have lower quality of life as it is indicated by some studies. In addition, there is a possibility that spasticity and pain correlate in a bilateral way via common neural mechanisms. However, quality of life is affected by many factors and it is difficult to conduct specific results without further research.

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Author Biographies

P. Mathiopoulou

Postgraduate Student, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, Postgraduate Training program, KAT Hospital, Athens, Greece

M.E. Evangelopoulos

Postgraduate Student, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, Postgraduate Training program, KAT Hospital, Athens, Greece

Assistant Professor of Neurology, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, Aiginition Hospital, Athens, Greece

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Published
2022-12-19