Cervical spinal lesion, completeness of injury, stress and depression reduce the efficiency of mental imagery in people with spinal cord injury.

The aims of this study were to assess the relationships of (1) clinical variables (age, level of injury, time since injury and completeness of injury) and (2) psychological variables (stress and depression) with mental imagery (MI) ability in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI).Study DesignThis was a cross-sectional study. Participants with SCI (n = 130) were requested to fill the Kinesthetic and Visual Imagery Questionnaire (KVIQ-10) and Vividness of Motor Imagery Questionnaire (VMIQ-2). They also completed the perceived stress scale (PSS) and patient health questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9) for the assessment of stress and depression, respectively.MI scores were found to be significantly low in cervical injuries (p < 0.001) as compared to thoracic injuries (p < 0.001). Furthermore, higher levels of spinal injuries resulted in lower MI scores. Completeness of injury (according to Asia Impairment Scale) also had a significant relationship (p < 0.001) with the MI ability among SCI participants. Presence of stress (p < 0.001) and depression (p < 0.001) also associated with reduced efficiency of MI in these individuals.Injury type and psychological factors were associated with mental imagery in SCI patients. Imagery based interventions should be designed after consideration of indentified factors yielding effect on their outcomes.