Purpose:
The purpose of this committee is to serve the Steel Assembly members and the professional and consumer community at-large seeking evidence and knowledge through peer-reviewed publications to inform clinical practice and research advancing the quality of care and outcomes for children and adolescents with spinal cord injury/dysfunction (SCI/D) and their caregivers.
- The committee will quarterly identify topics and evidence-based papers for dissemination through the Steel Assembly website.
- Topics are identified at monthly Steel Assembly meetings. Members (at least 2) become a sub-committee to develop a resource according to the standardized format.
- An overview of each topic and rationale for the presentation will be shared as free access articles when possible, and the names of the Steel Assembly members (facility and country) selecting the articles and developing the resource. Refer to initial resources for format.
- The Evidence Committee will read and review the resource document by the sub-Committee and require a two-member committee agreement for dissemination.
- The resource document is also reviewed by the Steel Assembly for approval for content and for dissemination via the website.
Welcome to the first installment of published articles shared with the Steel Assembly community on-line.
Please note that our intent is to share information on pediatric SCI medical care and rehabilitation in a broad sense that may be of interest to interdisciplinary Steel Assembly members, as well as consumers/caregivers. In addition, to pediatric-centric published work, we will include articles that are relevant to SCI, but address topics from other domains or even adult SCI. This is the case in our inaugural presentation of articles with the topic of neuromodulation spanning epidural stimulation and transcutaneous spinal stimulation. While epidural stimulation is undergoing experimental study in adults with SCI for a multitude of potential health benefits, pediatric SCI researchers, healthcare professionals, and caregivers may be particularly interested in the results of the current investigations. These findings and the scientific principles that we gain from this research may be valuable in guiding development of novel therapies to promote recovery in children, as well as pediatric-based research with accessible forms of stimulation. Articles on Acute Flaccid Myelitis and Activity-based Therapies are also presented this quarter.
We suggest that each Steel member or individual reading the articles, assess for themselves merit and value of the published work. We hope that you will find this on-going service useful to you and your interest in pediatric-onset SCI. We welcome your input concerning topics of interest and an effective format.
Evidence Committee Co-chairs:
- Rebecca Martin, OTR/L, OTD, CPAM, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA MartinRe@KennedyKrieger.org
- Andrea L. Behrman, PhD, PT, FAPTA, Kosair Charities Center for Pediatric NeuroRecovery, Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center, Louisville, KY andrea.behrman@louisville.edu