Effect of early rehabilitation intervention on function recovery in patients with spinal cord injury

Objective To investigate the influence of early rehabilitation intervention in functional recovery of patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). Methods Eighty patients with SCI, admitted to our hospital from October 2009 to September 2013, were chosen in our study and divided into two groups: the treatment group, received rehabilitation treatment within one month of injury (jn=40), and the control group, received rehabilitation treatment one month after injury (n=40). Both groups were given conventional treatment besides rehabilitation of activities of daily living, Barthel index (BI) and functional independence measurement (FIM) were performed before treatment and three months after treatment. Results As compared with those before treatment (38.23±17.88 and 38.23±17.88 in the treatment and control groups, 23.38±15.50 and 25.50±17.28, 55.98±16.76 and 62.75±14.44), the scores of activities of daily living (73.68±27.38 and 63.45±19.41), BI (53.13±28.46 and 43.63±20.25) and FIM (92.78±24.72 and 84.50±17.85) after treatment were significantly higher in both groups (P<0.05); as compared with patients from the control group, patients from the treatment group had significantly higher scores of activities of daily living, BI and FIM after treatment (P<0.05). Conclusion Early rehabilitation intervention can obviously promote the function recovery of SCI; rehabilitation should be involved within one month of injury. Key words: Spinal cord injury; Early rehabilitation; Function assessment