Brianna Laplante

I never realized exactly how fragile the spinal cord was until last night’s lecture.  Last week, I watched NFL player Kevin Everett interview about his spinal cord injury on Oprah.  I soon became very interested in spinal cord injuries.  A spinal cord injury is a serious condition that affects lives dramatically.  

The spinal cord is often injured when vertebrae are broken or fractured and axons are damaged.  Damage prevents messages from getting through, causing many problems.  The body’s chemical responses along with bleeding and swelling can cause additional damage that can continue for days, even weeks after the injury.  The prognosis depends on the location and severity of the injury.  Some patients recover, while others may be paralyzed for life.  About 52% of spinal cord injuries result in quadriplegia and tetraplegia and about 42% result in paraplegia.  The severity of the injury gets worse depending on how high the injury is on the spinal cord.  Remember, C3, C4 and C5 keep you alive!

Spinal cord injuries are labeled complete or incomplete depending on the amount of spinal cord damage.  With a complete injury, messages cannot travel to and from the brain and there is no feeling or movement below the injury.  An incomplete injury is less severe.  An incomplete injury allows for some messages to get through and for limited sensory and motor abilities.  Injuries can also be classified as traumatic or nontraumatic.  Traumatic injuries are sudden, often from a strong force that causes immediate damage.  Nontraumatic injuries tend to develop more slowly from conditions such as arthritis, diseases, cancer, bleeding, infections or degeneration of the vertebrae. 

 Approximately 11,000 people suffer from spinal cord injuries in the U.S. each year!

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