Objective To study the effectiveness of preoperative rehabilitation in geriatric patients with intertrochanteric femoral fracture. Method Retrospective analysis was conducted on 110 geriatric patients with intertrochanteric femoral fracture from January 2014 to October 2016, who had PFNA surgery in theorthopaedics surgery ward of West China hospital, Sichuan university. Patients were divided into preoperative practice group and control group with the same postoperatively rehabilitative training program. Data of visual analogue scale(VAS), Barthel index, rate of post-operative ambulation within 7 days were analyzed by SPSS 19.0. Result All patients were followed-up from 3 to 6 months post-operation except 7 who were out of follow-up. Compared with control group, preoperative practice group had lower VAS score, higher early ambulation rate and higher Barthel index score. The differences were significant (P < 0.05). Meanwhile, the preoperative practice group had lower complication rate, shorter hospital stay and lower hospitalization expenses. Conclusion Rehabilitation throughout hospitalization is more efficient than post-operative rehabilitation on the geriatric intertrochanteric femoral fracture patients.