Norway and Sweden - joint research efforts to
prevent falls after spinal cord injury
Sunnaas Rehabilitation Hospital, Department of Research, Oslo, Norway; Rehab Station Stockholm/Spinalis, Department of Research and
Development, Sweden and Karolinska Institutet, Department of Neurobiology, Caring Science and Society, Stockholm, Sweden
Growing health concern
Accidental falls in individuals with spinal
cord injury is a growing health concern.
Even non-dramatic falls may lead to
fractures,
hospitalization,
increased
dependency and activity limitations. The
knowledge of risk factors is scarce and
there is a need for joint research to develop
evidence based fall prevention programs. A
new Norwegian-Swedish project is in the
lead of this research area.
Aging population – Incomplete injuries
The acute and long-time survival after spinal cord
injury increases due to medical improvements,
comprehensive rehabilitation management and lifelong follow-up. In addition, both the prevalence of
elderly affected by a spinal cord injury, and the
incidence of incomplete injuries increases. The rising
challenge following an aging population with an
increasing number of walking individuals, is therefore
unique.
Collaboration
Falls in both walkers and wheelchair users will be
studied in a longitudinal collaborative research project
involving Sunnaas Rehabilitation Hospital, Rehab
Station Stockholm/Spinalis, and Karolinska Institutet.
The project is lead by an interdisciplinary research
team, and two PhD-students and one masters student
are working in the project. A minimum of 200 male
and female individuals with traumatic spinal cord
injury, aged 18 and above, will be recruited. Data will
be collected through surveys, interviews, clinical tests
and medical records.
Research group: Åke Seiger, Kirsti Skavberg Roaldsen, Emelie Butler
Forslund, Claes Hultling, Vivien Jørgensen, Erika Franzen, Kerstin
Wahman, Arve I Opheim. Not in the picture: Agneta Ståhle, Johan K
Stanghelle and Åsa Måøy.
Preventing falls
The present project will give valuable knowledge
beneficial for developing evidence based fall
prevention programs, not only in Scandinavia, but also
in other European countries. An early identification of
individuals at risk of falling will hopefully lead to better
preventive interventions, a reduction of associated
costs for the society as well as increased quality of life
for the individual.
For more information, please contact
Vivien Jørgensen, PhD student
Sunnaas Rehabilitation Hospital
and Karolinska Institutet
Emelie B Forslund, PhD student
Rehab Station Stockholm/Spinalis
and Karolinska Institutet
Åsa Måøy, Masters student
Sunnaas Rehabilitation Hospital
and University of Oslo
Sunnaas Rehabilitation Hospital: [email protected]
Rehab Station Stockholm/Spinalis: [email protected]
Karolinska Institutet: [email protected], [email protected]