It’s important to understand that adapting to life after a spinal cord injury (SCI) is a long and often unpredictable process of physical and psychological recovery and rehabilitation. No two people will respond to the spinal cord injury rehabilitation process in the same way or on the same schedule.
It is also important to remember that regardless of the type of spinal cord injury, we do know that staying active and practising a healthy lifestyle, maintaining sound psychological health, and leaning on the support of family, loved ones, and professional spinal cord injury support services help greatly improves recovery from a spinal cord injury.
What is spinal cord injury recovery?
When most people refer to recovery from SCI, it is physical recovery which is most often being referred to – the ability for one’s limbs and organs to function properly in order to live an independent life. But the range of physical recovery among patients is vast. While some survivors may regain near-complete physical ability, others may not.
That’s why it’s essential to think of physical recovery as a journey with many milestones along the way.
Reduction of swelling at the site of the injury; recovery from surgery; regaining sensation below the site of the injury; regaining movement below the site of the injury; learning to use assistive devices such as wheelchairs; finding new ways to perform old tasks, such as making meals; staying active and strengthening and training other parts of your body to work around your injuries – these are all examples of physical recovery.
If one can train oneself to think of any of these as a milestone on a continuous path toward a more complete recovery, the challenges become less overwhelming.
But focusing too much on physical recovery, especially with regards to an injury for which recovery is not guaranteed, can have detrimental effects on one’s mental and emotional well-being. That brings us to the topic of psychological recovery.
The importance of SCI psychological recovery
With many SCI patients, the challenges and difficulties brought on by the desire to recover physically often result in conditions such as depression and low self-esteem. That, in turn, can have a negative effect on one’s general physical health and, therefore, create even more roadblocks to the physical recovery being sought.
That’s why it’s so important to rely on the support from family and loved ones, but also from specialist SCI management services and psychological and mental health professionals. Together, the person with SCI can develop and master an attitude that maintains happiness that comes from within and not necessarily from any one particular physical ability. Research has proven this. In a recent study, 86% of participating quadriplegics rated their lives as better than average.
Do you have further questions? Get your SCI questions answered by the Navigator Team by sending us a message or contacting us on 0800 373 858.
