Spinal Cord Injuries

Spinal Cord Injuries

A sudden, traumatic spine blow fracturing or dislocating your vertebrae marks the beginning of what we call a spinal cord injury.

The majority of spinal cord injuries are preventable and due to causes such as car vehicle accidents, falls, or violence.

‍38.6% of all spinal cord injuries are a result of a motor vehicle accident.

In the USA alone, approximately 17,810 new cases of spinal cord injuries are registered each year.

Approximately 294,000 people live with spinal cord injuries live in the United States.

Every year, 250,000 to 500,000, people all over the world sustain a spinal cord injury. People with spinal cord injuries experience a massive impact on their mental, emotional, and social state. While scientists believe that advancement in medical science will soon help millions suffering from the issue, we are yet to see an efficient cure for spinal cord injuries. There are modern lightweight wheelchairs and other advanced equipment that improves a patient’s ability to move, but you may have to pay a substantial price. Spinal cord injury patients have two to five times more chances of premature death than people without an SCI.

Common Spine Injuries from Accidents

Whiplash or whiplash-associated disorder (WAD) is one of the most common spine problems after a road accident. The whiplash symptoms start developing within a few days post-accident and can include:

Problem in sleeping
Depression
Dizzyness or tiredness
Irritability
Headaches from base of the skull
Numbness or tingling in the arms
Limited or complete loss of neck movement
Ringing in the ears
Pain or tenderness anywhere across upper back, arms, or shoulders
Memory or concentration Issues
A herniated disc occurs when the soft, jelly-like center of discs starts leaking through a crack on their tough exterior due to a road accident. This liquid starts surrounding and putting pressure on nerves and nerve roots. Symptoms of the herniated disc include:

Muscle weakness around the affected nerves
Extreme pain radiating from low back or the shoulders to the legs or arms
Numbness or tingling in the arms or legs
Vertebral fractures, like any other fracture, can be of any degree across the vertebrae. While mild fractures may heal without any long-term treatment or by merely resting, major fractures can result in serious issues such as burst fractures, flexion fractures, or vertebral compression fractures. The symptoms of a vertebral fracture include:

Moderate to severe pain as per the degree of fracture
The pain gets worse with movement
Tingling, weakness, and numbness in the limbs

A personal injury accident can result in several different types of paralysis. The severity of the paralysis depends on whether the injury is a complete or incomplete spinal cord injury. The severity of the paralysis also relates to how high on the spinal column that the damages occurs. Generally, the higher the spinal column (closer to the head) the more likely that the paralysis will be severe or catastrophic. This is not to say that lower damage on the spinal column (towards the pelvis) is not catastrophic, because it is, but the most severe types of paralysis occur in injuries to the neck.

For instance, the most common types of paralysis include in next tabs:

Damage to the thoracic or lumbar spine (mid-back or lower back) could result in paraplegia. This can affect the torso and lower extremities. If the damage to the spine is incomplete, an individual may maintain some ability to walk, move, or have sensation. This could still be impaired to a great extent and still require some type of ambulatory device. If the damage to the spine is complete, however, a person is likely unable to move the lower extremities or be able to sense anything below the point of damage.
Also known as tetraplegia, quadriplegia can greatly affect a person’s life because it is due to damage to the cervical spine or the neck. An incomplete spinal cord injury could result in diminished function and sensation to all four extremities and nearly the entire torso. Whereas a complete spinal cord injury could result in a person having completely no function and sensation to all four extremities and the torso. This could render a person almost 100% dependent on the care and assistance of another.

Quadriplegia is often classified as high or low. High quadriplegia could leave a person with no sensation anywhere below the chin or mid-neck. Low quadriplegia could allow a person to have some sensation in the upper shoulders or arms, but not much else below that. This can affect damages.

A rarer type of paralysis, monoplegia occurs when only one extremity is damaged. This is often not due to damage directly to the spinal cord, but rather this is due to the major branches leaving the spinal cord and extending out to the extremity. For instance, a right-sided compression fracture in a motor vehicle accident to the cervical spine could damage parts of the brachial plexus nerves that govern sensation and movement in the right arm. As a result, a victim’s right arm may not function properly, or at all, but a victim’s other extremities may work as normal.

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Spinal Cord Injury: Signs, Causes, and Prevention

After suffering a spinal cord injury, an individual may or may not be able to control their limbs. Two factors decide whether or not the victim will be able to control their arms, hands, legs, or feet- place, and severity of the injury. In medical terms, the severity of a spinal cord injury is defined through completeness.

Complete Spinal Cord Injury: As the name suggests, when all sensory parts stop functioning, or the ability to control movement is lost below the place of the spinal cord injury, it’s known as a complete injury.
Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury: On the contrary, when some sensory or movement function is still present, it’s classified as an incomplete injury.

Any kind of spinal cord injury may result in one or more of the following signs or symptoms.
Loss of movement
Loss of bowel or bladder control (unable to control urine leakage)
Loss or altered sensation such as the ability to feel touch, heat, and coldUnwanted reflex activities or spasms
Unwanted reflex activities or spasms
Changes in sexual function, sexual sensitivity, and fertility
Pain or an intense burning sensation across the spine or limbs due to the damage caused around nerve fibers in your spinal cord
Difficulty breathing, coughing, or while cleaning your lungs
There are also some emergency signs in case the injury is big. These emergency symptoms may include:
Extreme back pain or extreme pressure in your head, back, or neck
Weakness or paralysis in a certain body part
Numbness or loss of sensation in your fingers, hands, feet, or toes
Difficulty while walking or balancing
Difficulty in breathing
Twisted or oddly positioned neck

A spinal cord injury can be caused due to several reasons that damage vertebrae, disks, or ligament of the spinal cord or spinal column. Here are some common causes of spinal cord injuries:
Motor Vehicle Accidents: It is the leading cause of spinal cord injuries. Statistics even say that half of the new spinal cord cases every year result from a road accident.
Act of Violence: Any violent attack on someone such as gunshot or stabbing can cause an SCI.
Electricity Accidents: Damage caused to the spinal cord due to an electric shock takes more than usual time to show signs. However, any neck or back pain needs immediate medical help.
Water Accidents: Diving into too shallow water and hitting the bottom.
Traumatic Accidents: Falling from height or any trauma to the face, head, neck.
Head or Back Injuries Due to Sports.

To prevent the risk of spinal cord injuries, one should follow the following advice:
Drive Safely: Follow safety practices like wearing seatbelts or following traffic rules to keep yourself and others safe on the road. Never forget to protect children and adults through seatbelts.
Prevent Falls: When reaching objects at height, don’t risk yourself by using chairs. Instead, use proper step stools to climb and prevent falls using nonslip mats.
Avoid Drink & Drive: We are mentioning this separately because car accidents are among the biggest SCI factors. In our experience as a spinal cord injury attorney, we have come across several drink-&-drive accident cases.
Play Sports with Necessary Precautions: When playing dangerous sports, ensure to wear recommended safety gear.
Check Water Depth Anywhere Before Diving: Make sure to check water level when jumping from short cliffs or anywhere other than swimming pools.

Spinal cord injuries cause several long-term functional, social, and mental problems. Patients with SCI experience a huge impact in various aspects of their life. They are always at risk for complications such as osteoporosis, numbness & weakness in limbs, kidney stones or bladder infections, and more. Their social life gets restricted, and it can mentally disturb them.