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: Des Moines Personal Injury Lawyer

Spinal Cord Injuries and Their Effects

By Megan Roth

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We all know about the severity of spinal cord injuries and their likeliness to result in paralysis; what many people don't know is that, depending on the severity and location of the injury, the level of severity may vary.
Approximately 10,000 individuals suffer spinal cord injuries each year, 82% of whom are males ranging from 16-30 years of age. Catastrophic falls and automobile accidents rank among the top causes of such injuries (although they aren't alone). Regardless of the cause, a person suffering a spinal cord injury is unable to completely process and react to sensations traveling along his/her spine. The majority of injuries affecting the spinal cord don't completely sever it; instead, damage often occurs to the vertebra, which (in turn) destroy the nerve cells responsible for carrying signals along the spinal cord.

In such instances, the information traveling along the spinal nerves below the level of injury is either completely or partially cut off from the brain, resulting in one of two conditions: Paraplegia or Quadriplegia. Which condition occurs is dependent on the level of injury (aka the lesion) which is determined by counting the nerves from the top of the spine downwards. The nerves are grouped into four areas (cervical, thoracic, lumbar, and sacral) of the spinal cord, which is approximately 18 inches long.

Injuries in the cervical region generally result in quadriplegia, while injuries to the other three regions often result in paraplegia (injuries to the thoracic region generally affects the chest and leg regions, while injuries to the lumbar and sacral regions most often affect only the hips and legs).

Both paraplegia and quadriplegia involve a loss of sensation as well as a loss of motion. The former (paraplegia) is more commonly recognized as paralysis of the lower limbs, a condition which often confines its victims to life in a wheelchair. This condition occurs when injury takes place below the first thoracic spinal nerve. The levels of paraplegia may vary, ranging from limited leg movements to complete paralysis of the lower body all the way up to the nipple line.

In some instances the spinal cord may be affected even after an injury occurs, in postoperative repair; in this situation, the onset of paralysis is not immediate and often delayed paraplegia sets in.