[Integration of patient exercise/physical therapy in the rehabilitation team]

Described is the position of physiotherapy in the rehabilitation of persons with spinal cord injury, starting out on the assumption that physiotherapy lays the foundations for functional rehabilitation, enabling the other disciplines to build up on. Ideally, the treatment approach is not confined to a single concept, but several treatment modalities should equally be available. Physiotherapy must be integrated into the overall team approach. This can only be achieved on the basis of mutual respect, as well as physiotherapy staff continuity which enables broad knowledge and experience to be built by physiotherapists.