Zbigniew Jethon, Wiesław Tomaszewski

Zbigniew Jethon, Wiesław Tomaszewski – Physical performance and locomotor ability of patients with spinal cord impairments and following amputation of lower extremities. Fizjoterapia Polska 2006; 6(4); 276-279

Abstract
The most popular classification of physical disability includes patients following amputation of lower extremities and those with spinal cord impairments. The physical performance of those patients depends on a number of factors, the most important of which include age, sex, type and degree of disability, duration of immobilization or movement restriction, and life style factors, especially those related to physical activity. Physical performance itself is, in turn, a factor contributing to the locomotor ability of disabled patients. Assessment of physical performance relies primarily on determination of the volume and intensity of aerobic and anaerobic metabolism. Both types of metabolism are reduced in subjects with the two types of disability listed above, with more distinct reductions in patients with spinal cord injuries. In this group, physical performance is determined by the level of injury, with increasingly poorer performance in patients with more proximally localised injuries. At the same time, circulatory and respiratory fitness is also impaired and the sympathetic regulatory response is altered. The methods used for the assessment of physical performance are similar to those used in normal subjects, with load programmes and ergometric devices adapted to the type of injury.

Key words:
physically disabled, physical performance, testing methods, quality of locomotion

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