Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation

Our individualized and comprehensive education program is designed to give patients with a spinal cord injury and their loved ones crucial information needed to adapt and recover from their injury. Our SCI-specific lessons, SCI Teaching And Reintegration Training, are called S.T.A.R.T. classes. The curriculum was developed by the SCI multidisciplinary team using the most up-to-date research in spinal cord injury.

We will provide your family or caregiver with proper training and tools to assist you when you return home.

Our wheelchair seating and positioning clinic provides a comprehensive evaluation by an expert therapist. This helps identify the optimal wheelchair and seating system for an individual’s specific needs. Our clinic goal is to maximize function and efficiency with wheelchair mobility by creating a custom wheelchair using information about strength, posture, balance, skin/pressure issues, pain, range of motion and tone to guide the selection and configuration of the appropriate wheelchair base and components.

At Baylor Scott & White Institute for Rehabilitation – Dallas, our SCI Max program is a comprehensive day rehabilitation program designed for persons who have experienced a spinal cord injury.

We understand the hurdles you will encounter, and our SCI MAX program can help. This intensive individualized therapy program for spinal cord injury patients will help you return to what you love.

• At Baylor Scott & White Institute for Rehabilitation – Dallas, we admit acute and chronic traumatic and non-traumatic Spinal Cord Injury/Disorder AIS A-D patients
• Participants must have the ability to participate in 6 hours of therapy, 3 days a week (Monday – Wednesday – Friday) without significant fatigue or medical compromise
• Patients must be free of medical issues preventing active participation in the intensive therapy program (e.g. wounds, strict sitting protocols, unmanaged pain and unmanaged hypotension/cardiac issues)
• Patients must have an established bowel and bladder program
• The caregiver must be able to attend family training and education (10a – 4p) on designated days
• Length of stay based on individual progress and discharge goals

Program offerings:

• Specialized team with physical and occupational therapists (speech therapy available if needed)
• Aquatic therapy
• Recreation therapy
• Adjustment Counseling/Neuropsychology services
• Social services
• Multiple technologies and equipment designed specifically for SCI patients, including EKSO Robotic Gait Device, RT 300, XCite, Standing Frame and LiteGait
• Limited transportation assistance available on case-by-case basis

*Available at BSWIR – Dallas location only. For more information on the SCI MAX Program, click here.

We provide aquatic therapy to our Dallas patients while they are undergoing SCI rehabilitation. It helps with spasticity management, improves cardiovascular endurance, flexibility and strength. It also helps reduce pain, which allows for early weight bearing and eventually fuels functional recovery.

Our pool is accessible for people of all ages and injury types.

*Available at BSWIR – Dallas location only.

Transitioning back into the home and community after inpatient rehabilitation can be challenging. For those who need help with the transition, our Real Life Rehab program at our Dallas hospital is great resource. Our program was one of the first of its kind in the nation and is an integral part of our continuum of care.
For our Dallas patients with neurological and spinal cord injuries, Real Life Rehab may be the best therapy approach after leaving the hospital. We work with you in your own environment as you transition back into your daily routines.

Knowing that additional adjustment issues emerge after leaving the hospital, the Real Life Rehab team stays in close contact with your rehabilitation psychologist to reinforce positive communication and help keep you on track for long-term success. Our therapy team is made up of specially trained physical, occupational and speech therapists, with neuropsychological and rehab psychological consults available.

We provide family training, accessibility/safety checks, ongoing equipment adjustments and continuing techniques to improve your functional skills.

The Real Life Rehab philosophy is "therapy for living, not living for therapy." Our goal is to work with you in your environment to ensure that the skills you've learned in traditional inpatient or outpatient settings easily translate into your real life.

*Available at BSWIR – Dallas location only. For more information on the Real Life Rehab Program, click here. 

Prefabricated and custom splinting and/or orthotics are used to address a variety positioning needs and facilitate the success of our patients. Our knowledgeable therapy staff are trained in custom upper and lower extremity splinting and casting, which helps prevent further complications from poor positioning. This improves range of motion and use of your extremities.

Long-standing relationships with local vendors allow us to provide in-house fittings to initiate the custom orthotic process. Assisting with custom positioning devices is another way we help meet your physical recovery and rehabilitation goals.

To better support our SCI patients, we've partnered with the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation's Peer & Family Support Program. This program is dedicated to improving the quality of life for people living or caring for individuals with paralysis. We provide paralyzed individuals, their family members and caregivers a connection for hope, support and a way of moving forward with life. Individual peer visits and group sessions are provided to patients in rehab. Even after discharge from the hospital, the program provides ongoing support to navigate challenges when integrating back home and into the community.

Community reintegration outings are organized by a certified therapeutic recreation specialist and implemented as a multidisciplinary treatment along with occupational and physical therapists. The outings help patients build confidence in real life settings where they apply physical mobility and functional skills outside of the hospital setting in preparation for discharge.

We offer an after-hours adaptive fitness and aquatics programs that provide an opportunity to maintain a healthy lifestyle after discharge. We provide access to our pool, gym, equipment, and technologies to maintain and/or improve fitness levels and optimizing function.

This outreach support program for individuals with spinal cord injury covers a range of topics from returning to work and school, traveling, health awareness and recreational activities. The group is open to anyone impacted by spinal cord injury, including friends and family. The support group meets monthly with patients, family members, community leaders and treatment team members in attendance.

Learn more about our support groups by location.

To help reinforce your skills and restore your spirit, Baylor Scott & White Institute for Rehabilitation’s specially trained Canine Companions may be part of your therapy program. Our therapists work with these remarkable dogs to engage patients in a wide range of activities that support the rehabilitation process.

*Canine Companions are only available at select locations.