We start our review with outcome measures that represent the areas of body function and structure as they can be considered the foundational for any personal activity, quality of life, and societal participation.

The majority of outcome measures used in clinical rehabilitation come from the Body Function and Body Structure components of ICF (Dahl 2002). While the components covered under this dimension are still mechanistically complex and by and large unresolved in terms of clinical treatment (e.g. motor function, spasticity, autonomic nervous system activity, or pain), when compared to the complexity or validity of the tools used to assess activity or activity limitation at the personal or societal level (e.g. self-care, community function, and quality of life), these measures of SCI function are perhaps more straight forward. Of course, this really underscores the complexity of valid SCI outcome assessments!

The outcome measures reviewed under this category are listed on the right: