My dad has spinal cord injury?
Please share some insight about spinal cord injury. My dad had a ghastly motor accident last week, and the doctor said he suffered spinal cord injury during the accident. Khalimat N. The spinal cord is a collection of nerves that travels from the bottom of the brain down the back. There are 31 pairs of […]
Please share some insight about spinal cord injury. My dad had a ghastly motor accident last week, and the doctor said he suffered spinal cord injury during the accident.
Khalimat N.
The spinal cord is a collection of nerves that travels from the bottom of the brain down the back. There are 31 pairs of nerves that leave the spinal cord and go to arms, legs, chest and abdomen. These nerves allow the brain to give commands to muscles and cause movements of the arms and legs.
The nerves that control the arms exit from the upper portion of the spinal cord, while the nerves to the legs exit from the lower portion of the spinal cord. The nerves also control the function of the organs including heart, lungs, bowels, and bladder. For example, signals from the spinal cord control how fast the heart beats and the rate of breathing. Other nerves travel from the arms and legs back to the spinal cord.
These nerves bring back information from the body to the brain including the senses of touch, pain, temperature, and position. The spinal cord runs through the spinal canal. This canal is surrounded by the bones in the neck and back called vertebrae which make up the back bone. The vertebrae help protect the spinal cord from injury.
What is a spinal cord injury?
The spinal cord is very sensitive to injury. Unlike other parts of the body, the spinal cord does not have the ability to repair itself if it is damaged. A spinal cord injury occurs when there is damage to the spinal cord either from trauma, loss of its normal blood supply, or compression from tumor or infection.
Spinal cord injuries are described as either complete or incomplete. In a complete spinal cord injury, there is complete loss of sensation and muscle function in the body below the level of the injury. In an incomplete spinal cord injury, there is some remaining function below the level of the injury. In most cases, both sides of the body are affected equally. An injury to the upper portion of the spinal cord in the neck can cause quadriplegia (paralysis of both arms and both legs). If the injury to the spinal cord occurs lower in the back, it can cause paraplegia (paralysis of both legs only.)
What are the causes of spinal cord injury?
The most common cause of spinal cord injury is trauma. Nearly half of the injuries are caused by motor vehicle accidents. Other types of trauma include:
1. Falls from heights.
2. Violence (stabbing or gunshot wounds to the spine).
3. Sporting injuries (diving, football, etc.).
Spinal cord injury can also be caused by compression of the cord by a tumor infection, or inflammation. Some patients have a smaller than normal spinal canal (called spinal stenosis) and are at a higher risk of injury to the spinal cord. All tissues in the body including the spinal cord require a good blood supply to deliver oxygen and other nutrients. Failure of this blood supply to the spinal cord can cause spinal cord injury. This can be caused by an aneurysm (ballooning of a blood vessel), compression of a blood vessel or a prolonged drop in blood pressure.
What are the symptoms of spinal cord injury?
The symptoms of spinal cord injury depend on where the spinal cord is injured and whether or not the injury is complete or incomplete. In incomplete injuries, patients have some remaining function of their bodies below the level of injury, while in complete injuries they have no function below the level of injury. Injuries to the spinal cord can cause weakness or complete loss of muscle function and loss of sensation in the body below the level of injury, loss of control of the bowels and bladder, and loss of normal sexual function. Spinal cord injuries in the upper neck can cause difficulty breathing and may require the use of a breathing machine, or ventilator.