Hi there. I used to be a personal assistant for people with spinal cord injuries before being lucky enough to be chosen to accompany tetraplegic Colin Javens on his once-in-a-lifetime African expedition where he drove an adapted Landrover from London to Cape Town. (see www.drivinghome.co.uk)

I am currently studying a MSc Public Health Nutrition and my former experience has motivated me to focus my research project on people with SCI. It is commonly known that nutrition is a very important area for people with SCI due to their altered metabolism and predisposition to a host of secondary conditions like pressure sores, UTI's and obesity. Yet research and nutritional guidance in this area is very limited and often contradictory. Evidence based nutritional guidelines are needed to help enhance well-being and health for people with SCI and this is why I need your help.

If you HAVE a spinal cord injury, are a BRITISH RESIDENT and have 5 minutes to spare I would really appreciate you filling in my confidential, short 10-question survey, the results of which I will use as part of my research project. You can submit your answers by the 1st August., 2008.

You can find it at the following link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=Tso1...iZ9Qza02A_3d_3d

Unfortunately as a poor student I am unable to reimburse you for your time, but I would be more than happy to share my results with you when I complete the project and answer any of your questions. Thanks for your time!

Nice to hear you're looking into this - question 4 is broken - it only allows you to answer good (or other level) once - ie you can't choose good more than once - question 7 is the same and question 9 needs a not applicable box as the carer questions don't apply to those of us that are fully independent.

I couldn't complete the survey as it wouldn't accept me not answering all the questions (see above) - A mistake I think as you should allow people to not answer those questions they don't wish to answer.

Think the not applicable box has now been added coz I certainly ticked it!
T x

Thank you so much for letting me know! I must admit I am a bit technologically challenged (when it comes to using computers) and didn't realise I had set up these restrictions so I really appreciate you sharing this with me. Anyway it is all edited now and ammended, so if you have time it would still be great to hear your thoughts. Thanks again