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Importance: Robotic exoskeletons leverage technology that assists people with spinal cord injury (SCI) to walk. The efficacy of home and community exoskeletal use has not been studied in a randomized clinical trial (RCT). Objective: To examine whether use of a wheelchair plus an exoskeleton compared with use of only a wheelchair led to clinically meaningful net improvements in patient-reported outcomes for mental and physical health. Design, Setting, and Participants: This RCT of veterans with SCI was conducted at 15 Veterans Affairs medical centers in the US from September 6, 2016, to September 27, 2021. Data analysis was performed from March 10, 2022, to June 20, 2024. Interventions: Participants were randomized (1:1) to standard of care (SOC) wheelchair use or SOC plus at-will use of a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-cleared exoskeletal-assisted walking (EAW) device for 4 months in the home and community. Main Outcomes and Measures: Two primary outcomes were studied: 4.0-point or greater improvement in the mental component summary score on the Veterans RAND 36-Item Health Survey (MCS/VR-36) and 10% improvement in the total T score of the Spinal Cord Injury-Quality of Life (SCI-QOL) physical and medical health domain and reported as the proportion who achieved clinically meaningful changes. The primary outcomes were measured at baseline, post randomization after advanced EAW training sessions, and at 2 months and 4 months (primary end point) in the intervention period. Device usage, reasons for not using, and adverse events were collected. Results: A total of 161 veterans with SCI were randomized to the EAW (n = 78) or SOC (n = 83) group; 151 (94%) were male, the median age was 47 (IQR, 35-56) years, and median time since SCI was 7.3 (IQR, 0.5 to 46.5) years. The difference in proportion of successes between the EAW and SOC groups on the MCS/VR-36 (12 of 78 [15.4%] vs 14 of 83 [16.9%]; relative risk, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.45-1.85) and SCI-QOL physical and medical health domain (10 of 78 [12.8%] vs 11 of 83 [13.3%]; relative risk, 0.97; 95% CI, 0.44-2.15) was not statistically different. Device use was lower than expected (mean [SD] distance, 1.53 [0.02] miles per month), primarily due to the FDA-mandated companion being unavailable 43.9% of the time (177 of 403 instances). Two EAW-related foot fractures and 9 unrelated fractures (mostly during wheelchair transfers) were reported. Conclusions and Relevance: In this RCT of veterans with SCI, the lack of improved outcomes with EAW device use may have been related to the relatively low device usage. Solutions for companion requirements and user-friendly technological adaptations should be considered for improved personal use of these devices. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02658656.

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Updated several times a week with posts by a wide variety of authors, AJN's blog Off the Charts allows us to provide more timely-and often more personal-perspectives on professional, policy, and clinical issues. Best of the Blog is a regular column to draw the attention of AJN readers to posts we think deserve a wider audience. To read more, please visit: www.ajnoffthecharts.com.

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STUDY OBJECTIVE: Awareness with paralysis is a devastating complication for patients receiving mechanical ventilation and risks long-term psychological morbidity. Data from the emergency department (ED) demonstrate a high rate of longer-acting neuromuscular blocking agent use, delayed analgosedation, and a lack of sedation depth monitoring. These practices are discordant with recommendations for preventing awareness with paralysis. Despite this, awareness with paralysis has not been rigorously studied in the ED population. Our objective is to assess the prevalence of awareness with paralysis in ED patients receiving mechanical ventilation. METHODS: This was a single-center, prospective, observational cohort study on 383 mechanically ventilated ED patients. After extubation, we assessed patients for awareness with paralysis by using the modified Brice questionnaire. Three expert reviewers independently adjudicated awareness with paralysis. We report the prevalence of awareness with paralysis (primary outcome); the secondary outcome was perceived threat, a mediator for development of posttraumatic stress disorder. RESULTS: The prevalence of awareness with paralysis was 2.6% (10/383). Exposure to rocuronium at any point in the ED was significantly different between patients who experienced awareness with paralysis (70%) versus the rest of the cohort (31.4%) (unadjusted odds ratio 5.1; 95% confidence interval 1.30 to 20.1). Patients experiencing awareness with paralysis had higher mean values on the threat perception scale, denoting a higher degree of perceived threat, compared with patients who did not experience awareness with paralysis (13.4 [SD 7.7] versus 8.5 [SD 6.2]; mean difference 4.9; 95% confidence interval 0.94 to 8.8). CONCLUSION: Awareness with paralysis occurs in a significant minority of ED patients who receive mechanical ventilation. Potential associations of awareness with paralysis with ED care and increased perceived threat warrant further evaluation.

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Patients in the transition from locked-in (i.e., a state of almost complete paralysis with voluntary eye movement control, eye blinks or twitches of face muscles, and preserved consciousness) to complete locked-in state (i.e., total paralysis including paralysis of eye-muscles and loss of gaze-fixation, combined with preserved consciousness) are left without any means of communication. An auditory communication system based on electrooculogram (EOG) was developed to enable such patients to communicate. Four amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients in transition from locked-in state to completely locked-in state, with ALSFRS-R score of 0, unable to use eye trackers for communication, learned to use an auditory EOG-based communication system. The patients, with eye-movement amplitude between the range of ±200µV and ±40µV, were able to form complete sentences and communicate independently and freely, selecting letters from an auditory speller system. A follow-up of one year with one patient shows the feasibility of the proposed system in long-term use and the correlation between speller performance and eye-movement decay. The results of the auditory speller system have the potential to provide a means of communication to patient populations without gaze fixation ability and with low eye-movement amplitude range.

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INTRODUCTION: Awareness with paralysis is a complication with potentially devastating psychological consequences for mechanically ventilated patients. While rigorous investigation into awareness has occurred for operating room patients, little attention has been paid outside of this domain. Mechanically ventilated patients in the emergency department (ED) have been historically managed in a way that predisposes them to awareness events: high incidence of neuromuscular blockade use, underdosing of analgesia and sedation, delayed administration of analgesia and sedation after intubation, and a lack of monitoring of sedation targets and depth. These practice patterns are discordant to recommendations for reducing the incidence of awareness, suggesting there is significant rationale to examine awareness in the ED population. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This is a single centre, prospective cohort study examining the incidence of awareness in mechanically ventilated ED patients. A cohort of 383 mechanically ventilated ED patients will be included. The primary outcome is awareness with paralysis. Qualitative reports of all awareness events will be provided. Recognising the potential problem with conventional multivariable analysis arising from a small number of events (expected less than 10-phenomenon of separation), Firth penalised method, exact logistic regression model or penalised maximum likelihood estimation shrinkage (Ridge, LASSO) will be used to assess for predictors of awareness. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Approval of the study by the Human Research Protection Office has been obtained. This work will be disseminated by publication of peer-reviewed manuscripts, presentation in abstract form at scientific meetings and data sharing with other investigators through academically established means.

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Brain computer interfacing (BCI) has enjoyed increasing interest not only from research communities such as engineering and neuroscience but also from visionaries that predict it will change the way we will interact with technology. Since BCIs establish an alternative communication channel between the brain and the outside world, they have been hailed to provide solutions for patients suffering from severe motor- and/or communication disabilities such as fully paralyzed locked-in syndrome patients. However, despite single-case successes, which sometimes reach a broad audience, BCIs are actually not routinely used to support patients in their daily life activities. This review focusses on non-invasive BCIs, introduces the main paradigms and applications, and shows how the technology has improved over recent years. We identify patient groups that potentially can benefit from BCIs by referring to disability levels and etiology. We list the requirements, indicate how BCIs can tap into their spared competences, and discuss performance issues also in view of other assistive communication technologies. We discuss hybrid BCIs, a more recent development that combines paradigms and signals, possibly also of non-brain origin, to increase performance in terms of accuracy and/or communication speed, also as a way to counter the low performance with a given paradigm by involving another, more suitable one (BCI illiteracy). Finally, we list a few hybrid BCI solutions for patients and note that demonstrations with the ones based entirely on brain activity are still scarce.

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Factitious disorder (FD) has diverse presentations but neurological presentation is unusual. In this report, we discuss a case of FD who presented with triparesis, that is, weakness of both lower limbs and right upper limb. Diagnosis of FD was made after detailed clinical evaluation, review of past medical records that revealed extensive evaluation to rule out physical illness, and inability to find any associated stressful event or material gain associated with illness. Management was largely supportive and was based on psychotherapy. Identification of FD depends on a high index of suspicion by the physician and the presence of atypical and medically unexplainable signs/symptoms.

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Background: It is important to develop further understanding regarding the facilitating and constraining factors that influence participation in daily activities, including social and human rights issues faced by persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) that affect their opportunities to lead full social lives. Objectives: To identify, describe, and compare factors that influence participation in daily activities by persons with SCI living in high-income countries (HICs) and in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Method: We performed a scoping review of 2,406 articles published between 2001 and 2016 that were identified from electronic databases. From these, 58 remained after checking inclusion and exclusion criteria. Analyses included (a) identifying factors that facilitate and constrain participation in daily activities; (b) categorizing the identified factors as issues related to medical, social, and human rights models; and (c) comparing determinants between LMICs and HICs. Results: The medical model factors pertained to long-term physical health and functional capacities, self-efficacy and adjustment skills, relearning capacities for performing daily activities, and availability of cost-effective adaptive equipment. The social model factors pertained to developing accommodating communities (accessible environments and mutual understanding). The factors of the human rights model pertained to autonomy (empowerment) and development of social justice (application of policies, advocacy, and negotiation). Conclusion: Eight lessons are proposed to enhance health and functional abilities, ensure disability friendly environments, develop social justice, and provide empowerment to enhance participation in daily activities among person with SCI living in LMICs.

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Since centuries, scientists, clinicians and philosophers have been debating about the interactions between the body and the mind. Researches and advances in neurophysiology over the last decades have challenged many principles and theories, mainly based on empirical observations, generally well accepted in clinical practice. These new findings, achieved through functional "magnetic resonance imaging", awake brain surgery and allow new techniques and opportunities in physical rehabilitation. More than ever the body and the brain must be considered and treated as a functional entity, the distinction between body and soul developed by Platon should no longer be applied. The development of new technologies, in particular the virtual reality, lends itself perfectly to this global approach. The aim of this article is to present how a purely cognitive training can have beneficial effects on the body and the motor performances in clinics.

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INTRODUCTION: Symptoms and signs of functional (psychogenic) motor and sensory disorder are often said to be dependent on the patients' idea of what symptoms should be, rather than anatomy and physiology. This hypothesis has however rarely been tested. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Inspired by a brief experiment carried out in 1919 by neurologist Arthur Hurst we aimed to assess the views of healthy non-medical adults towards paralysis and numbness and their response to tests for functional disorders when asked to pretend to have motor and sensory symptoms. RESULTS: When subjects were asked to pretend they had a paralysed arm 80% thought there would be sensory loss. Of these 60% thought it would have a circumferential (functional) distribution at the wrist, elbow or shoulder. Hoover's sign of functional weakness was only positive in 75% of patients pretending to have leg paralysis with 23% maintaining weakness of hip extension in the feigned weak leg, a rare finding in neurological practice. 20% of subjects managed to continue having their feigned tremor during the entrainment test. 52% of subjects thought there was asymmetry of a tuning fork across their forehead even when no prior instruction had been given. CONCLUSIONS: The study confirmed Hurst's finding that non-medical people generally expect sensory loss to go along with paralysis, especially if the examiner suggests it. When present, it usually conforms to functional patterns of sensory loss. Clinical tests for functional and motor disorders appear to behave somewhat differently in patients asked to pretend to have symptoms suggesting that larger more detailed studies would be worthwhile.

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Functional (psychogenic) limb weakness describes genuinely experienced limb power or paralysis in the absence of neurologic disease. The hallmark of functional limb weakness is the presence of internal inconsistency revealing a pattern of symptoms governed by abnormally focused attention. In this chapter we review the history and epidemiology of this clinical presentation as well as its subjective experience highlighting the detailed descriptions of authors at the end of the 19th and early 20th century. We discuss the relevance that physiological triggers such as injury and migraine and psychophysiological events such as panic and dissociation have to understanding of mechanism and treatment. We review many different positive diagnostic features, their basis in neurophysiological testing and present data on sensitivity and specificity. Diagnostic bedside tests with the most evidence are Hoover's sign, the hip abductor sign, drift without pronation, dragging gait, give way weakness and co-contraction.

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STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study. OBJECTIVES: To test the hypothesis that self-perceived functional impairment and religiosity/spirituality (S/R) predict depression among traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) patients in Sri Lanka. SETTING: Ragama Rheumatology and Rehabilitation Hospital, Ragama, Sri Lanka. METHODS: The Spinal Cord Independence Measure, Benefit Through Spirituality/Religiosity Scale, Sheehan Disability Inventory and Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) were administered to 61 consenting in-patients with traumatic SCI between June and July 2014. A linear regression model on BDI-II score was developed to examine the impact of self-perceived functional impairment and S/R activities on psychiatric outcomes in context of various sociodemographic variables. RESULTS: Psychiatric consequences of SCI were reflected in a 41% prevalence of depression. Thirty-six percent (R2=0.36) of the variance in BDI-II scores (F(5, 55)=6.07, P<0.001) was explained by the regression model. Functional impairment (ß=0.54, t(55)=4.73, P<0.001) and perceived benefit through S/R activities (ß=-0.31, t(55)=-2.55, P<0.05) emerged as the strongest predictors for depression severity. CONCLUSIONS: Perceived functional impairment in work, social and family domains predicted depressive symptomatology among SCI inpatients in Sri Lanka, while perceived benefit through S/R protected against depression. The findings emphasize the need for rehabilitative programming to support patients' S/R activities and mental wellbeing, promoting reintegration into their community roles.

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STUDY DESIGN: Multi-center cross-sectional cohort study. OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to develop and validate short forms (SFs) of participation for child- and parent-reported outcomes following spinal cord injury (SCI). SETTING: Three pediatric orthopedic hospitals in the United States. METHODS: The expert panel used calibration data from the pediatric computerized adaptive test (CAT) development study (convenience sample of 381 children and adolescents with SCI and 322 parents or caregivers) to select SF items. The panel selected items for two domains (participation self-relevant to what I want to do; participation friends-relevant to what my friends do), with parent and child versions for each domain. Psychometric analyses included group reliability, Cronbach's alpha, agreement (SFs and item banks), percent of sample with highest (ceiling) and lowest (floor) scores by level of lesion (paraplegia/tetraplegia), and test information function. RESULTS: Group reliability and Cronbach's alpha values are acceptable (0.74-0.92) and agreement (intraclass correlation coefficients for SFs and total item banks) is strong (0.89-0.95). Floor effects were minimal for people with tetraplegia and paraplegia (0-1.19%). Ceiling effects were minimal for people with tetraplegia (0-3.13%) and slightly higher, but acceptable, for people with paraplegia (8.06-14.02%). Test information function for the SFs was sufficiently high over the range of scores for the majority of the sample. CONCLUSION: Pediatric Measure of Participation (PMoP) SFs are acceptable for use when CATs are not feasible. SPONSORSHIP: The study was funded by the Shriners Hospitals for Children Research Grant 79142 (Mulcahey, PI) and the Boston ROC Grant 5R24HD065688-05 (Jette, PI).

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OBJECTIVE: Powered exoskeletons promise to increase the quality of life of people with lower-body paralysis or weakened legs by assisting or restoring legged mobility while providing health benefits across multiple physiological systems. Here, a systematic review of the literature on powered exoskeletons addressed critical questions: What is the current evidence of clinical efficacy for lower-limb powered exoskeletons? What are the benefits and risks for individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI)? What are the levels of injury considered in such studies? What are their outcome measures? What are the opportunities for the next generation exoskeletons? APPROACH: A systematic search of online databases was performed to identify clinical trials and safety or efficacy studies with lower-limb powered exoskeletons for individuals with SCI. Twenty-two studies with eight powered exoskeletons thus selected, were analyzed based on the protocol design, subject demographics, study duration, and primary/secondary outcome measures for assessing exoskeleton's performance in SCI subjects. MAIN RESULTS: Findings show that the level of injury varies across studies, with T10 injuries being represented in 45.4% of the studies. A categorical breakdown of outcome measures revealed 63% of these measures were gait and ambulation related, followed by energy expenditure (16%), physiological improvements (13%), and usability and comfort (8%). Moreover, outcome measures varied across studies, and none had measures spanning every category, making comparisons difficult. SIGNIFICANCE: This review of the literature shows that a majority of current studies focus on thoracic level injury as well as there is an emphasis on ambulatory-related primary outcome measures. Future research should: 1) develop criteria for optimal selection and training of patients most likely to benefit from this technology, 2) design multimodal gait intention detection systems that engage and empower the user, 3) develop real-time monitoring and diagnostic capabilities, and 4) adopt comprehensive metrics for assessing safety, benefits, and usability.

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AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to describe the meaning of being temporary paralysed from spinal anaesthesia when undergoing total knee replacement. BACKGROUND: Total knee arthroplasty is a common procedure, and regional anaesthesia is used as a method for anaesthetising the patient. The experience is highly individual in substance and duration, and it can extend far beyond care settings as intraoperative care and the postanaesthesia care unit that have been investigated so far. DESIGN: A qualitative phenomenological hermeneutic design was chosen to gain a deeper understanding of the experience of spinal anaesthesia, as a part of having a total knee replacement. METHODS: Twelve patients were interviewed in March 2014 after undergoing an elective total knee arthroplasty under spinal anaesthesia. The interviews were analysed with a Ricoeur-inspired interpretation method. RESULTS: Three themes were derived from the interviews: 'anaesthesia--an unavoidable necessity', 'an unrecognisable and incomprehensible body' and 'the body returns--joy and agony'. CONCLUSION: The results reveal that trust in the health care personnel and knowledge of the course of events play a key role in the experience. The trust can be breached by unforeseen events, or if the patient's experiences were not taken into account. The ability of the health care personnel to be in contact, share relevant knowledge with- and compensate for the patient is crucial in the prevention of negative experiences. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: The results of this study contribute to insights and deeper knowledge that can enhance staff's ability to provide care for patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty in spinal anaesthesia. The results provide perspectives that argue for care in accordance to individual needs.

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We report a case of conversion paralysis after cervical spine arthroplasty performed in a 45-year-old woman to treat cervico-brachial neuralgia due to a left-sided C6-C7 disc herniation. Upon awakening from the anaesthesia, she had left hemiplegia sparing the face, with normal sensory function. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain ruled out a stroke. MRI of the spinal cord showed artefacts from the cobalt-chrome prosthesis that precluded confident elimination of mechanical spinal cord compression. Surgery performed on the same day to substitute a cage for the prosthesis ruled out spinal cord compression, while eliminating the source of MRI artefacts. Findings were normal from follow-up MRI scans 1 and 15days later, as well as from neurophysiological testing (electromyogram and motor evoked potentials). The deficit resolved fully within the next 4days. A psychological assessment revealed emotional distress related to an ongoing divorce. The most likely diagnosis was conversion paralysis. Surgeons should be aware that conversion disorder might develop after a procedure on the spine, although the risk of litigation requires re-operation. Familiarity with specific MRI sequences that minimise artefacts can be valuable. A preoperative psychological assessment might improve the detection of patients at high risk for conversion disorder.

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