A spinal cord injury is devastating. Depending on the location of the injury, it could mean you lose the ability to use your legs or it could paralyze you from the neck down. There is no cure or fix for a spinal cord injury. However, rehabilitation can help you to feel and live better. There are many ways that rehabilitation helps and many reasons why your doctor will insist you do it.
According to Burke Rehabilitation Hospital, doing the exercises and physical activities in rehab help you to improve your physical health. It can help you to avoid weight gain and to strengthen the muscles not affected by the paralysis. This in turn allows you to get stronger and compensate for the loss of movement. This then leads to you being able to be more independent because you can relearn skills and how to do things without having to use the parts of your body that are now paralyzed.
However, rehab goes beyond just helping you physically. It also gives you a mental boost. It can help you to feel more in control and enable you to take charge of your situation. It allows you to interact with others who are facing a similar physical situation as well.
Furthermore, rehab has many positive side effects. It can reduce pain and help you avoid secondary infections. You can use it to help reduce spasticity and to help you adjust to your new situation. This information is for education and is not legal advice.