If you or a loved one suffer from a spinal cord injury, your doctor may refer you to a spinal rehabilitation facility. Damage to the spinal cord can involve much more than pain and difficulty with moving your arms and/or legs. You will undergo a few different types of help and treatments to ensure as much healing as possible. Here are a few different areas that will be addressed at spinal rehab.

Physical

Of course, the biggest part of spinal rehab is going to involve the physical aspects. Your doctor and therapists will design exercises for you to perform. These exercises will help with the strength of your back muscles, flexibility of the spine, and increase mobility. While physical therapy may be painful in the beginning, the goal is to decrease pain as your spine and back muscles heal.

Locomotor Training

If the injury has left you partially or totally immobile, locomotor training will be used once your back has healed enough. Generally, this training will involve some type of weight support in the beginning. You may have a walker, crutches, or a harness to help hold your weight while relearning to walk. As you progress, you will find you do not need the support device as much and eventually will be able to walk again without it.

Occupational Therapy

Unfortunately, sometimes there will be no complete healing for a spinal cord injury. However, if this is the case, an occupational therapist will work with you to ensure you are as independent as possible. They will help find the proper assistive devices to let you perform normal, everyday activities on your own. This may include simple devices that can be fit to your arms and hands to eat or write on your own, or could be a specialized car that will allow you to drive.

Mental and Emotional Therapy

A spinal cord injury can be devastating to your sense of self. With this in mind, you will attend counseling to help you grieve what you have lost and then move on to your new reality. You will probably go back and forth with your mental/emotional state a lot. Having a good attitude can go a long way in the healing process and will help you to work harder to regain as much as possible through the other therapies.

If your doctor has not talked about spinal rehab with you, be sure to bring it up at your next appointment. A spinal cord injury may be permanent, but rehab can still help in many different ways to provide you with a higher quality of life.