The three stages of polytrauma rehabilitation– a recommendation and a systematic literature review on behalf of SICOT

Purpose Polytrauma presents a devastating event with great impact on the patient’s life. While we are taking great care of improving our treatment algorithms, the rehabilitation often takes place outside of our direct field of vision. Yet, adequate rehabilitation is crucial for the patients to regain their former lives. The aim of this study, on the behalf of SICOT Trauma & Rehabilitation Research Group, was to identify rehabilitation strategies and standards in existing scientific literature. Methods A systematic literature search of MEDLINE and Embase from 2000 to 2023 was conducted. Inclusion criteria was the description of polytrauma rehabilitation strategies in the acute, post-acute or long-term stage. Reported treatment aims, conducted therapies and challenges were extracted and stratified to either of the stages. Results A total of 5212 studies were identified and 6 reviews and one original study were included according to our criteria. Overall, no article of higher evidence on how to perform polytrauma rehabilitation could be identified. From the available literature, disciplines involved in the rehabilitation could be described such as major challenges along the rehabilitation process. Conclusion This study highlights the need for standardized polytrauma rehabilitation algorithms. Whereas we could identify important information about each rehabilitation stage, we did not encounter specific evidence for prioritization of different therapies or algorithms of treatment. Polytrauma rehabilitation needs to shift from eminence to evidence.