The SF SCIMS is part of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and the Lynn Rehab Center and supports a comprehensive system of care for patients from the time of initial injury through reintegration into the community. The South Florida Spinal Cord Injury Model System has been continuously funded by the National Institute of Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) since 2011, and is one of 18 centers in the country to receive the Spinal Cord Injury Model System designation. One of the primary purposes of SCI Model System program is to collect acute, inpatient rehabilitation, and follow-up data on patients with traumatic SCIs with the goal of understanding and improving long-term functional, vocational, cognitive, and quality-of-life outcomes after SCI.
As part of our current activities, researchers at the SF SCIMS are studying how the rapid changes in body composition (e.g., percent body fat) after a spinal cord injury may be related to enhanced systemic inflammation, and how these changes may impact the development and maintenance of chronic pain in people with SCI.