What Causes a Spinal Trauma?
Some injuries have greater long-term impacts than others, and some of the most severe injuries involve the central nervous system. While injuries to the brain have received a significant amount of attention due to their chronic and acute impacts, spinal trauma can have implications that are every bit as severe.
Sometimes, people are unsure of whether or not they have suffered damage to their spinal cord. There are a few common symptoms that people should keep in mind. Among the wide variety of symptoms of spinal cord trauma include:
Damage to Motor Function: People who have suffered traumatic injuries to their spinal cord or brain may notice issues with their motor function. Their extremities may not move as quickly or as accurately as they did before. Regain can impact one extremity or multiple.
Damage to the Sensory System: Those who have suffered neck and spinal cord trauma could notice that they are having issues with their sensory function. They could start to feel chronic pain over various levels of their body depending on where their spinal cord has been damaged. Other sensations could include numbness or tingling as well.
Issues with Bathroom Function: Depending on the location of the spinal cord injury, people could also notice problems with going to the bathroom. This could mean constipation and urinary retention or the opposite (incontinence). This can create a serious quality of life issues for an individual.
These are only a few of the many different issues that can arise when people have sustained trauma to their spinal cord. Depending on the severities of these issues, people may develop problems in their social life or start to struggle with depression.
Possible Causes of Spinal Trauma: A Review
A review study was completed to analyze how spinal trauma occurs. The team conducted an extensive literature review to analyze the causes of spinal injury across a wide variety of settings. Their results were interesting and demonstrated that spinal injury can develop from multiple different traumatic events. These include:
Auto Accidents: One of the most common causes that they found were auto accidents. When someone is involved in an auto accident, their spine is subject to extreme extension and flexion. This can lead to stretching and shearing of the spinal cord, leading to damage to the spine itself.
Slip, and Fall Injuries: While this may seem innocuous, slip and fall injuries can generate extreme forces and direct trauma over the vertebrae. This can lead to bone fragments that damage the nerves in the cord, leading to chronic symptoms down the road.
Pedestrian Injuries: Pedestrian injuries were found to be a common cause of spinal trauma. When people are crossing the street and are struck by a motor vehicle, they are subjected to massive forces that can cause multiple bone fractures, including spinal cord damage. Extreme damage can cause lifelong injuries, including paralysis.
Consequences of Spinal Cord Trauma
Those who sustained damage to their spinal cord can suffer serious consequences as a result. In the immediate aftermath, people will be transported to a hospital so that they can be evaluated by a medical professional. Extensive imaging and testing will be conducted to see if any nerves have been damaged which require further evaluation. Once these have been completed, the acute injuries will take time to recover. After the immediate aftermath, an individual could have residual injuries and chronic complications as a result of their spinal trauma. Many people will require routine visits to physical therapy to try and restore their motor and sensory function to baseline.
Watch YouTube Video: What is a Spinal Cord Injury? This video presents an overview of spinal cord injuries and looks at the future of spinal cord injury research.
Elk Grove Auto Accident & Personal Injury Attorney
I’m Ed Smith, an Elk Grove Personal Injury Lawyer. Spinal cord injuries can cause serious ramifications. If you or a family member has sustained injuries to the spinal cord, please call me for free, friendly advice at (916) 921-6400 or (800) 404-5400.
I am a proud member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum for the California chapter.
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