Spinal Cord
The spinal cord is a collection of nerves that goes from the bottom of the brain down to back. There are 31 pairs of nerves that leave the spinal cord and go to arms, legs, chest and abdomen.These nerves allow brain to give commands to muscles and cause movements of arms and legs. The nerves that control arms exit from the upper portion of the spinal cord, while the nerves to legs exit from the lower portion of the spinal cord. The nerves also control the function of organs including heart, lungs, bowels, and bladder. The spinal cord runs through the spinal canal. This canal is surrounded by the bones in neck and back called vertebrae which make up the back bone of human. The vertebrae are divided into 7 neck (cervical) vertebrae, 12 chest (thoracic) vertebrae and 5 lower back (lumbar) vertebrae. The vertebrae help protect the spinal cord from injury.
Spinal Cord Injury
The spinal cord is very sensitive to injury. If it is damaged unlike other parts of the body, the spinal cord does not have the ability to repair itself. A spinal cord injury occurs when there is damage to the spinal cord either from trauma, compression from tumor or infection or loss of its normal blood supply.
Types Of Spinal Cord Injury
Spinal cord injuries are of two types.Complete or Incomplete.
Complete Spinal Cord Injury:In this type of spinal cord injury there is complete loss of sensation and muscle function in the body below the level of the injury.
Incomplete spinal cord injury: In this type of 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.
Injury to the upper portion of the spinal cord in the neck can cause quadriplegia-paralysis of both arms and both legs.
Injury of the spinal cord occurs lower in the back cause paraplegia-paralysis of both legs.
How is a spinal cord injury treated?
The first step in treatment of spinal cord injury is to check the patient is breathing and the heart is beating. The next step is immobilization. This often occurs at the time of injury before being transported to the hospital. The patient might be started on a high dose of steroids after a spinal cord injury is diagnosed. This could help decrease the amount of damage to the spinal cord by reducing swelling and inflammation. Next to try to stabilize the spine and prevent further damage by placing the patient in traction or a halo device around the head. Many cases of spinal cord injury are treated with surgery. After the initial treatment and stabilization of patients having a spinal cord injury, the next step is rehabilitation. Rehabilitation includes methods to help the patient maximize their function through occupational and physical therapy and the use of assistive devices.Aggressive rehabilitation and physical therapy after surgery also maximizes recovery.