2019 Volume 21 Issue 2 Pages 13-24
Patients with cervical spinal cord injuries ("CSCI patients") face many difficulties in their daily life due to their extremely serious disorders of thermoregulation (sweating disorder, vasomotor disturbance, heat production disorder, and loss of thermal sensation that cover most of the body). It was suggested from previous experiments in an artificial climate chamber, questionnaire, and field surveys that CSCI patients need special thermal environmental consideration and support different from general healthy persons; therefore the author has been pointing out the importance to establish specific methods to support CSCI patients who suffer from disorders of thermoregulation. In this study, therefore, an online questionnaire survey was conducted for the purpose of understanding the demand of CSCI patients for the thermal environment. As a result, the demand for cooling and heating equipment, clothing, bedclothing, medical equipment, and welfare equipment was suggested. Based on the above, thermal environmental support desired by CSCI patients as interested parties as well as tasks to provide support that go along with their demand were successfully clarified.
