Severely brain-injured patients often suffer from disabilities and psycho s
ocial handicaps. Early rehabilitation aims at improving their motor and fun
ctional recovery while preventing or treating complications as soon as poss
ible. In this review me look at some issues encountered in early rehabilita
tion. We illustrate our discussion with data from 876 French traumatic brai
n injury patients admitted over the course of 1 year at 18 rehabilitation u
nits that were asked for details of their current practice. Preservation of
vital functions follows standardized protocols, but rehabilitation is more
controversial. Few controlled trials are available. Good agreement exists
among clinicians about prevention of orthopedic complications and treatment
for spasticity. However, little consensus exists concerning treatment of n
on-pyramidal hypertonia and spasms or about procedures that can be undertak
en to improve arousal from a coma or vegetative state. Finally, we look at
other specific issues of early rehabilitation, namely prediction of outcome
, psychological difficulties of patients and their families, efficiency and
cost-effectiveness.