Researchers analyzed data from nearly 4,000 people in the United States who suffered a spinal cord injury between 2000 and 2014 and found that early rehabilitation was associated with better physical functioning when patients left the hospital and during the following year.
“This study shows, following spinal cord injury, patients might benefit from entering inpatient rehabilitation at the earliest, clinically appropriate opportunity,” said lead investigator Kurt Herzer, a fellow in the Medical Scientist Training Program at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore.