Each process is distinct and unique. For example, a year after you heal from a broken leg, you may not even remember which leg was broken, if you have fully recovered from the injury. Recovery may also indicate a healing of the damaged psyche, as in an emotional recovery. Many burn victims require recovery from posttraumatic stress syndrome. Like a rebuilt engine, reconstruction has its inherent limitations.
Reconstruction can return both form and function, and provides hope to the healing burn patient.
Rehabilitation is the most difficult to define. More or less, it means to learn to make due with what is left, to adapt to the loss or injury. For example, a child may lose his leg due to a bone cancer, but still learn to run and play baseball with his new prosthesis. Rehabilitation means overcoming injuries, afflictions, or setbacks, by providing for form or function. With burn wounds, some tissue heals, some tissue is lost or replaced, and some tissue is irreparably damaged and endured.