The Effects of L-carnitine on Fatigue in Spinal Cord Injury
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2013-04-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
1. Purpose: To explore the use of L-Carnitine, a pharmaceutical product, for the treatment
of fatigue in persons with spinal cord injury (SCI).
2. Hypothesis: Similar to previous research in disabled and aging populations, the
investigators hypothesize that treatment with L-Carnitine will result in a significant
improvement of clinical fatigue in spinal cord injury clients, effecting a decrease on
the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) of 0.5 points or more. The investigators expect to see
an effect after approximately three weeks of treatment.
As secondary outcomes, the investigators expect to see positive changes in the Centre for
Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D)and Visual Analogue Fatigue (VAS-F) and Visual
Analogue Pain (VAS-P) scores, due to a combination of previously demonstrated effects of
L-Carnitine directly on pain and depression, and the effects of the potential decrease in
fatigue.