The spinal cord is a critical part of your nervous system. It is responsible for transmitting signals to and from your brain. It also helps you feel the sensations in your hands and feet. It also makes you capable of being mobile, keeps you breathing, and ultimately keeps you alive.
A spinal cord injury can, therefore, cause a loss of sensation. It can also lead to voluntary and involuntary malfunctions in your body. Many times a spinal cord injury results in changing the life of an individual. Below, this post will discuss how a spinal cord injury happens, its different treatment options, and how long recovery can take.
The Scale of Spinal Cord Injury
A spinal cord injury or an SCI can be very traumatic because it can happen to anyone, anytime. It can severely impact the person’s ability to perform various daily tasks. According to a study by the WHO, about 282,000 people suffer from SCI each year.
The current average age for spinal cord injury is 42, and a majority of SCI cases occur in males. There are two types of SCI injuries, one is a complete SCI, and the other is an incomplete SCI. Both of these injuries differ in severity, treatment, and recovery time.
A complete SCI means that a person will feel no sensation below the site of injury. On the other hand, an incomplete SCI refers to some retention in sensation in the affected areas of the body. According to a 2013 analysis of the national SCI database, the top causes of spinal cord injuries with road-related accidents.
Spinal Cord Injury Scenarios
Spinal cord damage can happen in many different ways. The most common spinal cord injury happens due to trauma from road accidents and falls. In some instances, a spinal cord injury is the result of one of the discs of the spinal cord slipping. In other scenarios, it can include a fractured vertebra, which either damages the spinal cord or pushes on it.
The lesser common causes of damage to the spinal cord can include injury or ischemia. Ischemia is when the tissue on the spinal cord deteriorates due to blood flow. Tumors, on the other hand, can also cause damage to your spinal cord. According to a study, most spinal cord injuries occur in the cervical spine, located inside the neck region.
Diagnosis of Spinal Cord Injury
Once a patient visits a hospital due to a spinal cord injury, a professional medical needs to access them clinically and figure out the intensity of the spinal cord injury. Medical professionals will often resort to different checklists and prognostic tools for spinal cord diagnosis.
What Happens to the Spinal Cord After Injury?
You can divide spinal cord injury up into what happens in the primary injury and the secondary injury. The primary injury is the direct mechanical trauma to the spinal cord. This is usually some form of impact with persistent compression.
The spinal cord is surrounded by the vertebral columns, which are essentially bones. These are bones, and these bones can fracture and break down the fragments of the bone. They can also impact the spinal cord directly, which is mechanical trauma.
In the primary injury, you find disruption of axons, which are the electrical signals at the end of the neuron. This damage to the axons ultimately blocks the pathways from sending the brain’s signals. You also have damage to the cell membrane.
The secondary injury phase refers to what happens minutes, months, and years after the spinal cord injury. These are a cascade of events, including vascular damage, iron imbalances, inflammation, and so much more.
Managing Spinal Cord Injury
The management of a spinal cord injury depends on its location, severity, and cause. For example, if the reason for the spinal cord injury is trauma, then immobilization of the spine will be essential. It may also involve surgery to repair the spinal injury.
Likewise, if the spinal injury occurs at a specific location, then the procedure for damage control may differ. Surgical correction involves removing fragments of the disc, blood, and more. The most common among these procedures is decompressions or laminectomy.
Recovery Options
Whether a person addresses the spinal cord problem, with or without surgery, treatment greatly depends on recovery and rehabilitation. This rehabilitation differs for each person. Achieving it involves multidisciplinary practices, and medical professionals will often hand you over to a team of experts that steer their focus on relieving nerve pain.
Physical therapists are also responsible for helping SCI patients recover. They help them work on mobility issues and include walking aids, along with low-level stimulation for muscle adjustment. Other professionals involved in helping SCI patients include occupational therapists.
These medical professionals specialize in treating upper limbs and how a person suffering from spinal cord injury can get accustomed to using them again for daily activities. Psychologists and behavioral therapists can help patients with severe injuries with communication and swallowing.
How Long Does it Take to Recover from Spinal Cord Injury?
Spinal cord injury can have many causes and outcomes, and nothing can guarantee positive results. However, if a person suffers an incomplete spinal cord surgery and undergoes quick and thorough treatment right after facing the injury, they can start showing incredible improvements after only 18 months of recovery.
For patients that have serious injuries or complete SCI, there are no guaranteed outcomes. However, good medication, rehabilitation, and support can help patients live a decent quality of life despite their severe cases.
Bottom Line
As you can see, recovery time for spinal cord injuries can be long and also vary according to 1) the severity of the condition and 2) the treatment that an SCI patient receives. Incomplete SCI patients can recover in 18 months if they are receiving top-notch rehabilitation treatments.
Looking for one of the best Spinal Cord Treatments in LA? Contact Dr. Rogers Today