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Acute care and reduction of disability

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Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation

Part of the book series: Therapy in Practice Series ((TPS))

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Abstract

An impairment is defined as an abnormality or loss of function (WHO, 1980). The impairments that may result from a spinal cord injury were delineated in Chapter 3 and may include motor or sensory loss or dysfunction, autonomic system dysfunction, loss of voluntary control over bowel and bladder and impairments of respiratory function. The impairments that are the sequelae of a spinal cord injury cannot be cured. However, correct and creative management of impairments will prevent many of them from leading to significant disabilities or to lifestyle handicaps.

It is sometimes said that a patient with a spinal cord injury is too ill to be moved to a major center. Actually, these individuals are too sick to be safely managed in small hospitals or in large hospitals where fragmentation of services and specialty groups prevent the overall view of their complex problems... over and above the humane factor, favorable prognosis as to the life expectancy and stability of neuromuscular disability justifies a considerable investment of time, money and effort required to rehabilitate the patient with a spinal cord injury.

(Schweigel and Peerless, 1971)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Oxbow, Saskatchewan, Canada

    Karen Whalley Hammell (Occupational Therapist)

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  1. Karen Whalley Hammell
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© 1995 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Hammell, K.W. (1995). Acute care and reduction of disability. In: Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation. Therapy in Practice Series. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-4451-1_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-4451-1_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-412-47680-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-4451-1

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