Exploring Lived Experiences of Post-Therapy Recovery after Spinal Cord Injury

Abstract

Regenerative medicine, particularly autologous stem cell therapy, has emerged as a transformative approach in treating spinal cord injuries by facilitating neural repair and functional recovery. While clinical outcomes of such interventions are well-documented, limited research has explored how patients experience the recovery process from a subjective, psychological, and existential perspective. What remains unclear is how individuals undergoing stem cell therapy make sense of their recovery and reconstruct meaning in their lives following treatment. This study adopts an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), a qualitative research approach focused on understanding how individuals make sense of their lived experiences, to investigate the lived experiences of patients recovering from spinal cord injury after autologous stem cell therapy. Using semi-structured interviews with eight participants (5 males and 3 females, aged 28–52 years), all of whom had undergone autologous stem cell therapy within the past 12 months, the study identified five central themes: reclaiming bodily identity, navigating uncertainty, rebuilding trust, confronting hidden suffering, and engaging in spiritual meaning-making. These themes reflect how recovery involves more than physical improvement; it is a deeply personal process shaped by emotion, belief, and cultural context. The findings offer insight into patients’ inner worlds, revealing complex dynamics often overlooked by biomedical evaluations. These results underscore the importance of integrating psychosocial and spiritual dimensions into regenerative care, and they pave the way for future research on patient-centered models in rehabilitation medicine.