| | The Spinal Cord is part of the Central Nervous System and is connected to the brain. From the brain the cord runs down the back and is surrounded and protected by the bony vertebral column. The cord is surrounded by fluid called "Cerebral Spinal Fluid" that acts as a cushion to protect the delicate nerve tissues.
The cord itself consists of millions of nerve fibers that transmit information to and from the limbs, trunk and organs of the body. Nerves called the spinal nerves or nerve roots come off the spinal cord and pass out between the vertebrae to carry the information from the spinal cord to the rest of the body.
| | | | What is Spinal Cord Injury? | A spinal cord injury usually begins with a sudden, traumatic blow to the spine that
fractures or dislocates vertebrae. The damage begins at the moment of injury when displaced bone fragments, disc material, or ligaments bruise or tear into spinal cord tissue.
Most injuries to the spinal cord don't completely sever it. Instead, an injury is more likely to cause fractures and compression of the vertebrae, which then crush and destroy the axons, extensions of nerve cells that carry signals up and down the spinal cord between the brain and the rest of the body.
An injury to the spinal cord can damage a few, many, or almost all of these axons. Some injuries will allow almost complete recovery. Others will result in complete paralysis. |
Complete or Incomplete | There are two types of injury - complete and incomplete.
A complete SCI is one that at the point of injury has totally cut the passage of signals between the brain and the body. There is no function below the level of the Spinal columninjury - no sensation and no voluntary movement. Both sides of the body are equally affected.
A person with an incomplete injury may be able to move one limb more than another, may be able to feel parts of the body that cannot be moved, or may have more functioning on one side of the body than the other. With the advances in acute treatment of SCI, incomplete injuries are becoming more common |
Level of Injury (Lesion) | Injury to the spinal cord causes loss of function of the nerves, limbs and organs below the site of the injury.
The spinal cord lies within vertebrae. These rings of bones are together called the spinal column or back bone. In general, the higher in the spinal column an injury occurs, the more dysfunction a person will experience. There are seven vertebrae in the neck—the Cervical Vertebrae—C1 (at the top) to C7. Injury in this region usually causes loss of function to the arms and legs (quadriplegia).
There are twelve Thoracic Vertebrae. The highest (T1) is where the top rib attaches. Injury to the thoracic region affects the chest and the legs.
Between the thoracic vertebrae and the pelvis lie the 5 Lumbar Vertebrae. The 5 Sacral Vertebrae run from the pelvis to the end of the spinal column. Injury to the lumbar and sacral vertebrae generally result in loss of functioning in the hips and legs.
Loss of function in the chest, hips and legs is Paraplegia.
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Do people with SCI ever get better? | At the time of injury, the spinal cord swells. When the swelling goes down, some functioning may return. Especially in incomplete injuries, functioning may return as late as 18 months after the injury. However, only a very small fraction of people with SCIs recover all functioning.
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Is there a cure? | Most body parts and organs can repair themselves after they are injured. However the central nervous system cannot. Attempting to repair the damage caused by a brain or spinal cord injury is a puzzle that has not yet been solved.
Nevertheless the damage caused by an SCI can be reduced by limiting immediate cell death and reducing the inflammation of the injured cord.
Attempts to regenerate function in the damaged area are focusing on regrowing nerves, blocking the mechanism that stops neurons from regrowing themselves, inserting new cells and bypassing the damaged area. |
Information on these strategies is available @ | | www.christopherreeve.org | | See also Making Connections. | | Making Connections | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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