**14. SCI patient rehabilitation stages through time**

#### **14.1 Acute phase**

This rehabilitation begins since the patient is admitted to the hospital until the stabilization. It can be a period of 6–12 weeks, depending on the existence of complications. Rehabilitation in the acute phase is important to increase the patient strength and stability for postural adaptation and orthostatic hypotension [19, 28].

Passive exercises have been observed to decrease the risk of spasticity [43]. Other early interventions in rehabilitation are bed mobility with rotation at 2–3-h intervals to prevent pressure ulcers [19, 34].
