1. Thinking through every step: how people with spinal cord injuries relearn to walk.
- Author
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Jordan MM, Berkowitz D, Hannold E, Velozo CA, and Behrman AL
- Subjects
- Body Image psychology, Female, Humans, Interviews as Topic, Male, Memory, Mental Processes, Middle Aged, Physical Endurance, Qualitative Research, Self Concept, Southeastern United States, Spinal Cord Injuries physiopathology, Spinal Cord Injuries psychology, Exercise Therapy methods, Neuronal Plasticity physiology, Recovery of Function physiology, Spinal Cord Injuries rehabilitation, Walking physiology
- Abstract
In this article we explore how people with incomplete spinal cord injury (iSCI) create meaning out of their changing bodies as they undergo a therapeutic intervention called locomotor training (LT). Therapeutic interventions like LT are used to promote the recovery of walking ability among individuals with iSCI. The chronological nature of this study--interviews at three points throughout the 12-week intervention--enhances understanding of the recovering self after spinal cord injury. Drawing on a constructivist theoretical framework, we organize data according to three narrative frames. Participants interpreted LT as (a) a physical change that was meaningful because of its social significance, (b) a coping strategy for dealing with the uncertainty of long-term recovery, and (c) a moral strategy to reconstitute the self. We offer findings that lay the conceptual groundwork for generating new knowledge about what is important to people with iSCI as they relearn how to walk.
- Published
- 2013
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