Physiotherapy rehabilitation for people with spinal cord injuries.

This article deals with the respiratory management of acute spinal cord injury patients discussing the mechanics of respiration, assessment and management strategies, respiratory care in the acute stage, invasive mechanical ventilation and weaning including survival following spinal cord injury. The importance of the care in supine position, physiological instability of the injured cord effect of hypoxia and hypovolaemia is also discussed. A review of relevant literature has been done to try and answer whether early mobilization following acute spinal cord injury is better than active physiological conservative care including slow weaning, reflecting the ethos of treatment for these problems at Oswestry.