Usually, when someone has a spinal cord injury (SCI), they are sent to a hospital for immediate care. Sometimes, they might move from that first hospital to another one that is better at helping with SCI. For example, someone might go from a small local hospital to a Level 1 trauma center. Often, surgery is needed to stabilize the spine. After surgery, the person usually goes to the intensive care unit. Once they are stable after the surgery, they typically move to an inpatient rehabilitation facility [link to how to choose inpatient rehabilitation]. Here, they help the person with SCI get stronger and teach ways to live back home after their injury. Sometimes, people with SCI go to a skilled nursing facility (SNF) [link to how to choose a SNF] for more rehabilitation and care before they go home. Things can be a little different for each person after an SCI. Sometimes, people get another health problem and need to go to a SNF or a special long-term hospital before they finish their rehabilitation. No matter what, the main goal is for the person with SCI to get specialized SCI rehabilitation to help get them as strong and able as possible before returning to their community. Once they are home, they might still need to go to outpatient therapy to keep getting better. The National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center says that, on average, a person stays in the acute care for about 19 days, and then, they usually spend around 37 days in rehabilitation. However, these are just averages. How long someone stays in facilities depends on how bad their injury is or if they have any other illnesses. Because this time in the hospital and therapy is pretty short, you’ll need to start thinking quickly about next steps and what you’ll need to go home after the injury. As one person in the study said, “I feel the time in rehab is so short, it’s hard to get everything you need.” This means that for people with a spinal cord injury, making the most of their time in therapy is very important.