The relationship of shoulder pain intensity to quality of life, physical activity, and community participation in persons with paraplegia.

AbstractBackground/Objective: For persons with spinal cord injury (SCI), severe bodily pain is related to a lower quality of life. However, the effect of pain from a specific body region on quality of life has yet to be determined. The shoulder joint is a common site of pain among persons with SCI. Therefore, our purpose was to identify the relationship of self-reported shoulder pain with quality of life, physical activity, and community activities in persons with paraplegia resulting from SCI.Methods: Eighty participants with shoulder pain who propel a manual wheelchair (mean age: 44.7 years; mean duration of injury: 20 years; injury level T1-L2) completed the following questionnaires: Wheelchair User's Shoulder Pain Index, Subjective Quality of Life Scale, Physical Activity Scale for Individuals with Physical Disabilities, and Community Activities Checklist. Correlations between shoulder pain scores and quality of life, physical activity, and community activities were determined using Spearman's rho tes...