Introducing Mr. Meier

By many measures Mr. Meier could be considered successful. After 25 productive years as the chief executive officer of his own auto parts firm, he retired three years ago. At 78, he is still married to his first wife and is an involved grandparent to his two grandchildren from two daughters.

Retirement has not meant slowing down for Mr. Meier and he certainly hasn’t ceased working. Since retiring, he has focused on managing and maintaining a number of properties that he owns throughout Switzerland. Not surprisingly, Mr. Meier has lived comfortably and in relative wealth together with his wife in a one-family chalet.

He has always engaged in life enthusiastically and since stepping down as chief executive officer, sailing, gardening and socialising have comprised his recreational time. At his age, Mr. Meier had certainly never anticipated living with a spinal cord injury (SCI). And despite his collected years and the existence of diverse diseases at the time of its occurance, physical fitness, mental clarity and independence were the norm.

His condition after the SCI left him in a drastically different state, taking him on a five-month rehabilitation whose challenges were as difficult as any that came before.

Aging is both an unavoidable fact of life and a complex process. Aging is intertwined with a spectrum of medical, social, environmental, physical and psychological processes, as well as other factors such as genetics, adaption to stresses, ethnicity and economic resources.¹ 

Sorting out what might be considered the “normal” processes and effects of aging from those of spinal cord injuries is therefore next to impossible. However, it can be assumed that there is an additive effect to health problems with the intersection of spinal cord injury and increasing age.

Until recently, no longitudinal studies on SCI and aging had been undertaken. However, since 1990 studies have attempted to make correlations between complications and comorbidities, SCI and age.²  For example, some secondary conditions such as pressure sores, respiratory problems and decreasing physical independence have all been associated with increasing age.³ 

This case study aims to illustrate the later phase of rehabilitation of one elderly patient suffering from SCI and reflect on the role that comorbidities and age can play in achieving optimal functional outcomes.