Turkish Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 2001 , Vol 47 , Num 5

Spinal Kord Yaralanması (SKY) ve Selim Eklem Hipermobilite Sendromu (SEHS)

Şafak Şahir Karamehmetoğlu 1
1 İstanbul Üniversitesi Cerrahpaşa Tıp Fakültesi, Fiziksel Tıp ve Rehabilitasyon Anabilim Dalı, İstanbul, Türkiye

Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) and Benign Joint Hypermobility Syndrome (BJHS) SCI was found to be rare in children, this might be due to ligamentous laxity and hypermobility of the joints. BJHS is a similar condition in  adult population with a prevalence of 3-5 %. In this study, it was aimed to compare the prevalence of BJHS in SCI patients with normal population. One hundred adult paraplegic patients were included. The passive extensions of the fifth metacarpophalangeal joint (fmcpj), elbow, and wrist and the distance between the tip of the thumb and forearm, and the tip of the little finger and forearm were measured. Beighton’s scoring method of BJHS was modified due to the possible involvement of the legs in paraplegic patients (contractures, spasticity, etc.). Patients with 0 or 1 point were considered normal, 2 or 3 as having hypermobile joints and 4 or more as having BJHS. None of the SCI patients had BJHS syndrome. The hyperextension of the fmcpj was found in 9.5 %, and the wrist in 4.7 %. It could be possible to conclude that SCI patients appeared not to have BJHS, that in turn give rise to comment that BJHS could prevent vertebral column injury and SCI, at least to some extent, in adults as well as in children.

Keywords : Spinal cord injury (SCI), benign joint hypermobility syndrome (BJHS)