Objective To explore the common rehabilitation techniques involved in early rehabilitation, early rehabilitation period, and the access conditions of medical institutions for early rehabilitation on the basis of the early rehabilitation data of Chengdu, investigation on some domestic rehabilitation institutions, and expert consultation opinions, to provide a scientific basis for the early rehabilitation of relevant medical institutions. Methods We extracted the data of 130 medical insurance designated institutions in Chengdu for the whole year of 2014 (from January 1st to December 31st), and used the investigation method to study eight common types of clinical rehabilitation diseases (except stroke); went out to investigate the data of eight common types of clinical rehabilitation diseases (except burns) of five hospitals; using expert consultation method, collected 15 experts’ opinions on the early treatment of common clinical rehabilitation, intervention time, rehabilitation costs and so on. Results Common techniques for early rehabilitation included: rehabilitation assessment, acupuncture/electroacupuncture treatment, low-intermediate frequency pulse electrotherapy, pneumatic limb blood circulation promotion treatment, joint loosening training, other massage training, aerobic training, exercise therapy, and occupational therapy. In addition, each disease type also corresponded to special rehabilitation techniques. The early rehabilitation period was 13–14 days for persistent vegetative state (hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy), 11–18 days for fractures, 12–14 days for joint and soft tissue injury, 31–47 days for spinal cord injury, 11–18 days for brain injury, 14–19 days for burn (chemical, electric shock), 10–12 days for hand injury, 9–20 days for peripheral nerve injury, and 13–21 days for stroke. The access conditions for early rehabilitation included: general hospitals above the second level, with independent rehabilitation treatment rooms and rehabilitation wards, with early rehabilitation equipment, qualified full-time rehabilitation physicians and therapists. Conclusions In the common technical aspects of early rehabilitation, each disease has a common technology and also corresponds to special rehabilitation techniques. The early rehabilitation period for most diseases is 2–3 weeks. In order to ensure the quality and safety of early rehabilitation, it is recommended to include the hospital level and professional rehabilitation talent qualifications into the access conditions for early rehabilitation.