In the past two decades there have been great strides made in understanding the biological changes resulting from spinal cord injury (SCI). The future holds promise of the development of therapies that will promote degrees of repair and recovery of function for people living with SCI. Lessons learned from past "failed" SCI clinical trials, however, demonstrate that, in order to accurately evaluate the overall effectiveness of SCI therapies, more sensitive outcomes measures are needed. Specifically, and reflecting the ultimate goal of clinical interventions - inducing functional recovery - the Spinal Cord Independence Measure (SCIM), has been recommended for further testing and development for use as a measure of functional ability in future SCI clinical studies. The SCIM is a very simple questionnaire and score sheet that an evaluator uses to determine how independently a person with SCI can perform certain tasks.