Rehabilitation outcomes in C6 tetraplegia.

This study reports on the rehabilitation outcome of 69 C6 tetraplegic patients admitted to the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago during an 8 year period. All patients' last normal level was C6 bilaterally. A 100-point modified Barthel Index was used to obtain measures of functional independence in 15 self-care and mobility tasks. The population consisted of 54 males and 15 females with an average age of 29.2 years. The average number of days from injury to admission to the rehabilitation unit was 58.6 and the average length of rehabilitation stay was 108.4 days. The average Modified Barthel Index score increased from 16.6 on admission to 50.1 on discharge. The Self-Care Subscore increased from 12.8 to 32.2 and the Mobility subscore from 3.7 to 17.9. There were statistically significant increases in the number of patients able to perform all tasks except ability to don an orthosis and ability to walk 50 yards. This study documents a significant increase in function of C6 spinal cord injured patients during rehabilitation.