Physical therapy in severe trauma from intensive care to return to activities: A narrative review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.62827/fb.v27i7.1251Keywords:
Multiple Trauma; Rehabilitation; Early Ambulation; Return to Work; Recovery of Function.Abstract
Introduction: improved survival after severe trauma has shifted the clinical problem from immediate mortality to prolonged functional recovery, in which physical therapy operates from intensive care to the resumption of activities. Objective: to describe what recent literature indicates about the contribution of physical therapy along the care trajectory of adults with severe physical trauma, from the critical phase to the return to activities. Methods: narrative literature review with a structured search, descriptive and qualitative in nature. Searches were performed in July and August 2026 in PubMed, in the Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature database and in the Scientific Electronic Library Online, with controlled descriptors and free terms related to the injured population, the intensive care setting, rehabilitation interventions and functional and occupational outcomes, combined by Boolean operators. Publications from the five years preceding the search were prioritised. Selection was carried out in two stages, by reading titles and abstracts and then full texts. Results: 67 sources published between 2021 and 2026 were assembled and organised into six axes: loss of muscle mass and function in the critical phase; early mobilisation and its limits; respiratory care; traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury; resumption of weight bearing after fractures; and continuity of care after discharge. Conclusion: the literature supports protocolised and progressive mobilisation programmes and indicates that long-term outcomes are also influenced by continuity of care and by psychological and occupational factors related to reintegration.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Rafael Viana dos Santos Coutinho, Caroline Pretto Sauter, Paulo Eduardo Blumer Paradeda, Mateus de Paula Fonseca Damacena, Eduardo Batista de Morais (Autor)
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