ABSTRACT
Head injury represents the primary cause of death in adults less than 45 years of age. It is also a major cause of disability in industrialized countries and 180/100,000 people die and/or are hospitalized every year as a result of head injury. Neuropsychological impairment is the most important sequelae after severe head injury. When considering head injury patients, rehabilitative prevention care must be undertaken in the emergency context of coma, that is, in the absence of a functional prognosis and without even knowing if a patient will survive. Some severe head-injury patients who emerge from a coma of long duration or from apallic states suffer from long-term failure of neuropsychological functions. Head-injury patients also suffer from social isolation. The uniqueness of head injury stems from the fact that it involves an interaction among anatomical, physiological, psychopathological, and social factors, and it is very uniqueness explains why other therapeutic intervention strategies are not applicable to head injury.
