Spinal Cord Injury

Historically, each year 11,000 people are added to the existing 230,000 cases of Spinal Cord Injury in the United States. Sad to say that young population ranging from 16-30 years old are affected by the Spinal Cord Injury. Learning the physiology of central nervous system is essential in understanding the function of spinal column. Central Nervous system is made up of spinal cord and the brain. The brain responds and receives sensory input from the spinal cord. The spinal cord is the communication link between the brain and the rest of the body. The spinal cord is a thick whitish cord of nerve tissue that extends from the brain to a point in the lower back called “conus medularis”. The spinal cord is encased in a protective canal that is formed by spinal vertebrae. The vertebrae and nerves are classified into several sections beginning from the neck. The first section shows seven cervical vertebrae, C-1 TO C-7. The next section is the 12 thoracic vertebrae, T1-T12, the 3rd section is called lumbar, L1-L5, the 4th section has 5 sacral and 1 coccygeal vertebrae. Each section is numbered from the top with a letter that corresponds to spinal section. For example the first section below the skull is C-1, the next section is T-1 in the thoracic section. When the spinal column is injured the communication would be disrupted between the brain and the parts of the body that is affected. The injury could be complete when no nerve fibers are functioning below the level of injury or incomplete when one or more nerve fibers are secure. The amount of functional loss depends on the level of injury. The higher the damaged the more of the body is affected including the neurological completeness of the injury. Individuals with neurological...

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...are important factors in return to work, the individuals require reemployment and retraining. Ticket to work program, education and aggressive treatment and rehabilitation helps the person develop confidence towards reemployment. Through adequate support from multidisciplinary team, family and community individuals live better lives.

The three most important things I learned include levels of spinal cord injury, deficiencies from having spinal cord injury and rehabilitation. When a person experiences injury to cervical region, the individual could experience severe effects such as use of ventilator and major assistance to activities of daily living. Deficiencies could include bowel or bladder dysfunction when sacral vertebrae are affected. Through the aid of multidisciplinary team, family and community individuals gain employment and live a quality life.