Rehabilitation Nursing Care for a Person with Secondary Paraparesis due to Spinal Cord Ischemia: Case Report

Introduction: spinal cord ischemia is a rare neurological condition, with an estimated incidence of between 0.6 and 1.2 cases per million inhabitants/year in Portugal. Objective: to describe the functional outcomes in a person with secondary paraparesis due to spinal cord ischemia after three weeks of a community-based rehabilitation nursing program. Clinical Case Report: this is a descriptive study, prepared in accordance with CARE guidelines. It refers to a female patient, aged between 75 and 80, diagnosed with spinal cord ischemia, presenting secondary paraparesis. Follow-up was carried out at home by a specialist rehabilitation nurse, who was part of the integrated continuing care team. The rehabilitation nursing intervention focused on muscle movement, sensory deficit, body balance, and assisted gait training. Over the three weeks of implementation of the care plan, significant functional gains were observed, namely increased muscle strength, partial recovery of tactile and proprioceptive sensitivity, improved postural balance, and increased walking safety. Conclusion: the results show that early and specialized intervention by Rehabilitation Nursing played a decisive role in the functional recovery of people with ischemic spinal cord injury, promoting gains in autonomy and independence, expressed by increased muscle strength, improved balance, and optimized gait.