Friday, October 9, 2026

1:45 PM - 2:35 PM

Banquet Hall (Plenary)

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Details

Traumatic and non-traumatic causes of spinal cord injuries (SCI) make people live with permanent impairment and disability. Comprehensive SCI management helps them be able to live though with lifetime disability. In high-income countries, SCI system models providing specialized SCI care and rehabilitation have been developed and proved with better outcomes in functioning. However, few specialized SCI facilities provided by specialized SCI professionals exist in middle-income countries in Asia, and it seems inequitable that majority of SCI patients are treated by non-comprehensive management and non-specialized rehabilitation professionals. To make policy makers in middle-income countries support developing specialized SCI services and systems is a big challenge as the incidence and prevalence of SCI is much lower than other diseases causing disability such as stroke. Comprehensive and specialized management is not equivalent to high-tech and/or high-cost services. With limited rehabilitation facilities, competent rehabilitation workforce can provide efficient comprehensive interdisciplinary approaches of specialized SCI rehabilitation programs with reasonable length of stay (LOS) for inpatient rehabilitation. However, LOS has been decreased worldwide due to health insurance policies. Too short LOS is a barrier in achieving optimal functional goals as SCI does not only impair most of body functions but also impact on ability and psycho-social aspects of the patients and whole family. Therefore, more time is needed for psychological adjustment to have positive attitude and copying strategies to overcome disability. Should SCI patients be treated and rehabilitated by specialized professionals? Whether outpatient or home-based can replace inpatient rehab services in post-acute phase? Does intermediate care (IMC) model aiming at increasing access to post-acute rehabilitation in Thailand increase functioning, lessen secondary health conditions and improving quality of life for individuals with SCI? According to the International Perspectives on SCI (IPSCI), WHO and ISCoS promote appropriate data collection on outcomes, costs and benefits at service level and longitudinal population-based studies. Following this recommendation, some Asian Spinal Cord Network (ASCoN) member organizations agreed to participate the International SCI (InSCI) community surveys and research from the surveys may provide enough evidence to answer the above-mentioned questions, thus advancing specialized SCI care, rehabilitation workforce, facilities, services and systems and bringing equity to those suffering from SCI in middle-income countries in Asia.

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Presenter (only the submitting author is listed below; co-presenters, where applicable, will be listed in the conference app)