Spinal Cord Injury

Spinal cord injuries usually begin with a blow that fractures or dislocates your vertebrae, the bone disks that make up your spine. Most injuries don't sever your spinal cord. Instead, they cause damage when pieces of vertebrae tear into cord tissue or press down on the nerve parts that carry signals. In a complete spinal cord injury, the cord can't relay messages below the level of the injury. As a result, you are paralyzed below the level of injury. In an incomplete injury, you have some movement and sensation below the injury.

A spinal cord injury is a medical emergency. Immediate treatment can reduce long-term effects. Later treatment usually includes medicine and rehabilitation therapy.

Source: NIH: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/spinalcordinjuries.html

Key Point 1

Immediate stabilization of a person after a fall or accident is critical to the outcome of a person with a spinal cord injury.  Rehabilitation starts right when the injury happens. You can be of tremendous help if you witness an accident.

Key Point 2

Rehabilitation of the whole person, not just their physical injury, is important for a person with a spinal cord injury to get back to their life.  Being as functional and independent as possible is the goal of rehabilitation.

Webisode

Full Episode

Conduct an off-site search for Heart Replacement from MedlinePlus.  These up-to-date search results are based on search terms specific to Second Opinion Key Points.

• Spinal Cord Injuries
• Rehabilitation
• Paralysis
• Mobility Aids
• Assistive Devices

Resources

There are a very large number of organizations dedicated to helping people with Spinal Cord Injury and their families and friends. This is only a partial list.

Mayo Clinic:  Mayo Clinic is a not-for-profit medical practice dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of virtually every type of complex illness.

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke(NINDS):  The mission of NINDS is to reduce the burden of neurological disease - a burden borne by every age group, by every segment of society, by people all over the world.

National Spinal Cord Injury Association (NSCIA): Founded in 1948, the National Spinal Cord Injury Association is the nation's oldest and largest civilian organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for hundreds of thousands of Americans living with the results of spinal cord injury and disease (SCI/D) and their families. This number grows by thirty newly-injured people each day.