Clinical fundaments for rehabilitation treatment in spinal cord injury.

Spinal cord injury leads to a severe disabling syndrome, which most often affects the young. The major etiologic factor in spinal cord injuries is trauma. Patients' rehabilitation is started in the acute phase, soon after the trauma occurs, mainly through preventive care against the formation of pressure sores, deformities of the palsy segments, proper vesical and bowel emptying and care with vasomotor alterations. The rehabilitation process continues at a specialized rehabilitation center, searching the best functional performance of each patient, according to the type and level of the spinal cord injury. This work shows fundaments for the rehabilitation treatment.