Spinal Injury or Spinal Cord Injury is a serious problem. It is often described as “trauma to spinal cord”. It can result in loss of proper function. Spinal cord is one of the major parts of human body. A group of nerves together forms the spinal cord that resides between the waist and the bottom of human brain. The spinal column protects the spinal cord. The lumbar spine, cervical spine and thoracic spine come together to form the spinal column.
Spinal injuries are mainly injuries to spinal column. The major reasons behind spinal damage can be motor vehicle accident, pedestrian accidents, truck accidents and bicycles accidents. Spinal injury can damage the bundle of nerves inside the cord. The mail locations of spinal injury include:
Cervical Spinal Cord Injury – 50%
Lumbar and Sacral Spinal Cord Injury – 20%
Thoracic Spinal Cord Injury – 30%
Spinal injury can be very harmful because the work of the spinal is related to the brain. The brain sends and receives signals through spinal cord. These signals result in sensations and movements. If the spinal cord is damaged you can not move properly. Central nervous system comprises of both the brain and spinal cord. If your spinal cord is injured it can damage the central nervous system which in turn can result in loss of proper function, loss of total or partial movement and loss of partial or all sensations.
There can be three kinds of spinal injuries such as:
Tetraplegia or Quadriplegia: this refers to trauma to Cervical Spine. This can restrict the movements of arms and legs and disable your over all movements.
Paraplegia: this refers to trauma to Lumbar Spine, Thoracic Spine or Sacral Spine. This can diminish one’s ability to move the legs.
Paralysis: this can disrupt the movement of the entire body.