The aim of this prospective clinical study is to determine text input speed (TIS) in people with cervical Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) and to study the influence of participant's characteristics on TIS.

People with cervical SCI were included if their level of injury was between C4 and C8 Asia AIS A or B, and were computer users. Each participant underwent a single evaluation using their usual computer access devices. TIS was evaluated during a 10-minute copying task. The relationship between participant's characteristics, computer access device and TIS were analyzed using a Two-Way ANOVA.

In the study, 35 participants with cervical SCI and 21 able-bodied people were included. Participants with cervical SCI had a Median TIS was 11 [8.1; 17.2] wpm and able-bodied participants of 23.5 [18.1; 29.7] wpm (p=0.001). Participants with SCI lesions at or above C5 had a median TIS of 12.2 [4.5; 13] wpm and those with lesions below C5 had a median TIS of 10.4 [9.2; 18] wpm (p=0.38). The Two-Way ANOVA showed that only the type of computer access device significantly influence TIS. Surprisingly, none of the subject's characteristics among them the level of cervical lesion did not affect TIS.