Spinal Injury Rehabilitation
Surviving a spinal cord injury can be a frightening, anxious and confusing time for the patient. It’s extremely common for people to have mixed feelings, relieved that they are still alive, but disbelief and devastation at the nature of their disabilities.
Rehabilitation programs combine skill-building activities with physical therapy and counselling to provide social and emotional support for the patient. Rehabilitation also aims at educating the patient’s family and friends, who undoubtedly will have lots of questions.
A rehabilitation programme is usually led by a doctor specialising in physical rehabilitation and medicine. The rehabilitation team will also consist of social workers, occupational therapists, rehabilitation nurses, psychologists, nutritionists and other specialists. The patient will also be allocated a case-worker who will coordinate the care.
The first stage of spinal cord rehabilitation is to try and build up or regain leg and arm strength through physiotherapy. Of course, the extent to which a patient will regain use of legs and arms will depend on the extent of their injuries. Gait training may also be offered for patients who have difficulty walking, this include teaching the patient how to walk with assistive devices such as crutches.
Occupational therapy is next on the agenda. This part of rehabilitation teaches the patient how to cope with everyday life. Occupational therapy encourages independence by helping the patient with daily tasks such as bathing, food preparation, going to the toilet and other activities of daily life.
Social workers and psychologists help with the emotional and mental aspect of having a spinal cord injury. Social workers can also assist with housing and financial matters too.
Spinal injury rehabilitation also focuses heavily on educating the patient and their family and friends. This is often referred to as ‘Patient Education’ and covers aspects such as, sexuality and fertility, aids and equipment’s, benefits and money matters, access to education, employment matters, adapting the home, seeking appropriate housing and how to access care from local providers.
Another major part of spinal injury rehabilitation is planning goals; this is done in conjunction with a team of health professionals. Setting goals and objectives is a great way to monitor progress and motivate the patient. Function goals will vary depending on the extent of the spinal cord injury. For example, a patient with a C4 spinal cord injury may initially require a ventilator to breathe but in time it is expected that they will be able to adjust to breathing unassisted. A patient with a less severe spinal cord injury may have mobility issues which are expected to improve.
