Each year 700 people suffer a spinal cord injury in the UK, joining 40,000 others in the community with this disability.

For many of these individuals losing control of bowel function causes major problems in returning to an active life in the community, but little research has addressed the management of this problem. The aim of Mrs Coggrave’s project is to reduce the effect of faecal incontinence on the lives of spinal cord injured patients by evaluating and improving the management of bowel control during rehabilitation and throughout the life of the individual.