Quality of life, concern of falling and satisfaction of the sit-ski aid in sit-skiers with spinal cord injury. Observational study

STUDY DESIGN: Observational study. OBJECTIVE: To describe (1) user satisfaction, (2) the Quality of Life (QoL) and (3) fear of falling in individuals with tetraplegia or paraplegia who used a mono-ski for sit-skiing. SETTING: Spinal units and Sport associations. METHODS: An observational study of people with spinal cord injury (SCI) who used a sit-ski. Participants were recruited in various SCI rehabilitation centers and sport associations. Participants completed three assessment tools: the Quebec User Evaluation of Satisfaction with assistive Technology (QUEST 2.0); the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQoL-BREF); the Spinal Cord Injury Fall Concern Scale (SCI-FCS). Results were evaluated with chi-squared test and Kolmogorov-Smirnov's test and the significance was set for p values < 0.05. RESULTS: Fifteen participants were included. Results showed positive and statistically significant values for all the items of the SCI-FCS related to fear of falling, and for most of the items of the WHOQoL-BREF related to QoL and the QUEST 2.0 related to satisfaction with the device. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights that sit skiing is correlated with high levels of satisfaction with the mono-ski, increases in QoL, and low levels of fear of falling. In adding these findings to the existent literature, it can be stated with more certainty that sit-skiing is a sport that can be recommended in rehabilitation and sports therapy programs.