Understanding Spinal Cord Injury, Part 2—Recovery and Rehabilitation

This fact sheet is the second in a two-part series in understanding spinal cord injury and answers some of the common questions people have during the early period after injury. Part one, The Body Before and After Injury, explains terms and information that are discussed in this fact sheet, including severity, level of injury, and changes in function.

This summary addresses:

• While there is typically no cure for paralysis from a spinal cord injury, there can often be improvements, including improvements in functional abilities.
• What is rehabilitation after a spinal cord injury, including who are the key members of the rehab team, and the injured person’s role in rehabilitation.
• Advice from other people with spinal cord injuries about rehabilitation.
• Functional goals after injuries at different spinal cord levels.

In order to view all pages of the PDF file you need to scroll down within the embedded PDF below.

This fact sheet is from the Spinal Cord Injury Model System Program, which is sponsored by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research, Administration for Community Living, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (See https://msktc.org/sci for more information).