Pediatric spinal cord injury (SCI) represents a unique population in rehabilitation medicine. Small in number and high in needs, children with SCI struggle to find specialized care. General pediatric providers lack focused knowledge in SCI and adult SCI providers lack consideration for developmental factors. Children and families are forced to “make do” in equipment and settings not designed for them or make personal sacrifices to seek specialized care, both options lack long term sustainability and, ultimately, functional outcomes.
A recent comprehensive review by the SCIRE Project highlights the paucity of high quality interventional research in pediatric spinal cord injury. While standards of care in adult SCI have moved toward restorative outcomes, away from compensatory measures, standards of care in children with SCI are arbitrary and largely outdated. As the science has advanced in adult spinal cord injury, practitioners have attempted to generalize interventions to children. This approach does not take into account the anatomical differences, rapid musculoskeletal growth, physiologic potential, and impact of development which are unique to children.
In this collection, we seek to challenge current standards of care and invite providers to consider long term recovery for children with SCI. Drawing from advances in adult SCI care, we will invite authors to examine the developmental impact on recent advances as well as the limitations to generalizability of novel interventions. We will also seek to expand the SCI provider’s scope of reference by inviting specialists in other pediatric conditions, again examining the impact of SCI on recent advances and the limitations to generalizability of novel interventions. Finally, we seek to elucidate trends in environments of care and barriers to access, through submissions on international injury trends and systems of care.
Pediatric spinal cord injury (SCI) represents a unique population in rehabilitation medicine. Small in number and high in needs, children with SCI struggle to find specialized care. General pediatric providers lack focused knowledge in SCI and adult SCI providers lack consideration for developmental factors. Children and families are forced to “make do” in equipment and settings not designed for them or make personal sacrifices to seek specialized care, both options lack long term sustainability and, ultimately, functional outcomes.
A recent comprehensive review by the SCIRE Project highlights the paucity of high quality interventional research in pediatric spinal cord injury. While standards of care in adult SCI have moved toward restorative outcomes, away from compensatory measures, standards of care in children with SCI are arbitrary and largely outdated. As the science has advanced in adult spinal cord injury, practitioners have attempted to generalize interventions to children. This approach does not take into account the anatomical differences, rapid musculoskeletal growth, physiologic potential, and impact of development which are unique to children.
In this collection, we seek to challenge current standards of care and invite providers to consider long term recovery for children with SCI. Drawing from advances in adult SCI care, we will invite authors to examine the developmental impact on recent advances as well as the limitations to generalizability of novel interventions. We will also seek to expand the SCI provider’s scope of reference by inviting specialists in other pediatric conditions, again examining the impact of SCI on recent advances and the limitations to generalizability of novel interventions. Finally, we seek to elucidate trends in environments of care and barriers to access, through submissions on international injury trends and systems of care.