Life After a Spinal Cord Injury
Life after a spinal cord injury (SCI) can be daunting—but with the right support, it’s full of potential. The SCI team at Burke Rehabilitation® empowers patients with the skills, resources, and confidence to live fully again.
Envisioning Life After Spinal Cord Injury (Including Skydiving)
A spinal cord injury (SCI) can change nearly every aspect of daily life—movement, sensation, bodily control, and the way a person navigates the world. But with proper care and support, Dr. Shelly Hsieh says, they have every possibility of thriving at home, work and in their community.
“After someone is paralyzed, they are often lying in bed, unable to control their body, wondering, What more is there to life?” says Dr. Hsieh, Outpatient Director of the Spinal Cord Injury Program at Burke Rehabilitation®. “With the right tools, training, and support, there’s so much we can do to make life better.”
As the nation celebrates Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Month in September, Dr. Hsieh, who has dedicated her career to helping people live full lives after SCI, discusses the ins and outs of the SCI rehabilitation journey. Recovery doesn’t mean going back to the exact life someone had before. It means creating a new life—one shaped by purpose, connection, and independence.
It Takes a Team
The first phase after SCI takes place in an acute care hospital, where the priority is survival and medical stability. Then the focus, at a place like Burke, shifts to rehabilitation—regaining strength, learning self-care skills, and building a plan for life beyond the hospital.
Burke’s integrated team, says Dr. Hsieh, includes rehabilitation therapy, neuropsychology, nursing, social work, and, most importantly, the individual and their family. The team carefully explains the injury from head to toe, discusses the likely course of recovery, and works with the individual and family to identify personal goals—whether that’s returning to work, driving, traveling, or taking part in sports.
Neuropsychologists support patients as they process the emotional impact of their injury. Caregivers are included from the start, learning both practical skills and ways to adjust to new roles. Involving the whole support network helps everyone prepare for the road ahead.
Patients and caregivers also learn strategies for mobility, skin and wound care, spasms and managing bladder and bowel function, all of which help individuals avoid complications and regain confidence. “It’s not just medical,” Dr. Hsieh notes. “If we can give someone control over these things, they can go to work, travel, and be out in the community without fear.”
The team also includes peer mentors, people living with SCI whom Burke trains to meet with new patients and give them firsthand insight into what’s possible. The pair might be matched because of similar injuries or similar life roles, say, being a parent of young children. “If they can see someone living a full life with a similar injury, it becomes more real and shows them what they are capable of,” Dr. Hsieh says.
Patients are also encouraged to explore adaptive sports and recreation. Hand cycling, sailing, wheelchair basketball, and other activities keep people active, improve mood, and connect them with others who understand their experiences.
Throughout rehab, the entire care team works to convey one powerful message: We believe in you. Dr. Hsieh has seen how this belief can become a turning point. “Some patients told me they wanted to stay strong for their family, friends, for their therapists, for their nurses and doctors—because we believed in them,” she says. “That was a big factor for them to push themselves further. When the entire care team and the patient’s loved ones hold that belief, it fuels motivation and resilience.”
Living Again: Stories of Possibility
DJ, a patient with a neck-level injury from a diving accident, came to Burke determined to remain active in his young son’s life. In rehab, he learned to use adaptive tools to bake a birthday cake for his son. He also took up hand cycling and joined Burke’s adaptive sports program, meeting others with similar injuries and building a network of support. Today, he’s driving, working, and fully engaged as a parent.
Rehabilitation, after all, is about much more than the body, Dr. Hsieh explains. It’s about preparing people to step back into the world with independence and purpose.
Some patients, Dr. Hsieh says, see their injury as a chance to reinvent themselves, discovering interests and capabilities they never explored before. David*, a peer mentor, has paraplegia and cannot move his legs. Yet after his injury, he embraced new adventures—adaptive jet skiing, sailing, even skydiving.
Returning to the community is not an afterthought following medical care, Dr. Hsieh stresses. It’s an integral part of healthcare itself. “Being able to drive to the grocery store or go on vacation isn’t extra—it’s part of health and quality of life,” she says.
*name changed
