Mapping fatigue and its influences on rehabilitation among people with recently acquired spinal cord injury: a scoping review protocol

BackgroundFatigue is a symptom described as a subjective feeling of tiredness, lack of energy and motivation, exhaustion, difficulty in concentrating. Fatigue is a frequent complication among people with spinal cord injury (SCI) and negatively impacts rehabilitative treatment sessions. A multitude of factors contribute to the complexity of fatigue experienced in people with acute and subacute SCI including physical, emotional and cognitive components. Understanding fatigue and fatigability mechanisms may have implications in optimizing perceived exertion during rehabilitation treatment for promoting better functional recovery after SCI. Despite the relevance of this topic, no study has been conducted to map the role of fatigue in acute and subacute SCI. Therefore, the aims of the present scoping review are: to map the currently available evidence describing how fatigue is defined and conceptualized and how to influence the rehabilitation in acute and subacute patients with spinal cord injury. In addition, an overview of the most used assessment tools will be provided. Inclusion criteriaStudies considering people with recently acquired SCI (up to 1 year from the date of the event) and looking at any aspect of fatigue will be eligible for inclusion. Any rehabilitation treatment sessions reported by each study and any context will be considered. MethodsThis scoping review will be performed in accordance with the Joanna Briggs Institute guidance. MEDLINE, Cochrane Central, CINAHL Complete and PEDro databases will be searched from inception to April 2023. Additional studies will be identified through searching in gray literature and the reference lists of relevant articles. No study design, time, geographical, setting restrictions will be applied. We will include only studies published in English. ConclusionsThis will be the first scoping review to provide a comprehensive overview of all studies dealing with any aspect of fatigue in people with recently acquired spinal cord injury. The results will add meaningful information for clinicians about the management of this symptom and its influences on rehabilitation and for researchers to direct future research. Moreover, an overview of the most used assessment tools to investigate fatigue in SCI will be provided.