The researchers examined patients’ outcomes after rehabilitation-discharge and one year after injury. The team analyzed data for 3,937 patients with traumatic spinal cord injury between 2000 and 2014. All patients went to a Spinal Cord Injury Model System facility within 24 hours of the injury.
Here are five observations:
1. Patients who experience longer acute-care stays before starting rehabilitation may be losing out on the positive impacts of neuroplasticity, which allows the body to adapt to neurological changes.
2. The researchers found patients who underwent earlier rehabilitation experienced “modest improvements in function and physical independence.”
3. Patients who had a 10 percent greater amount of time to rehabilitation post-injury, had about a 4 percent decline in the Functional Independence Measure score and a 5.3 percent decline in the Craig Handicap Assessment and Reporting technique score, one year after the injury.
4. The researchers said additional research is needed to confirm a cause-and-effect relationship between rehabilitation timing and outcomes.
5. However, the researchers suggest enhanced communication between hospital and rehabilitation providers.
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