Chances are you haven’t thought about your spinal cord lately. It’s one of those amazing body parts responsible for movement and even assists the very act of taking a breath. It conveys messages between the brain and the body. Injury to the spinal cord can cause basic abilities to be greatly diminished and lives to be forever changed.
Unfortunately, I see many clients with severe spinal cord injuries. The majority of which have been caused by a car accident, motorcycle accident or bicycle accident. Others are due to slip and fall accidents and occur at all ages. A few of my clients have suffered spinal cord injuries when a heavy object, such as an overhead door or ceiling tile fell and struck them in the head.
Spinal cord injuries can be difficult to diagnose. One reason for this is that the pain may be felt by a patient in an area other than where the trauma occured. For example, my daughter, suffered a spinal cord injury a few years ago from a fall. Her mother and I witnessed the fall. She fell straight down on her bottom, but her pain occured in the upper back. An MRI showed a compression fracture in the upper spine resulting from the force of the fall traveling up her spinal cord but originating from the point of impact.
Symptoms of a Spinal Cord Injury:
If you approach the scene of an accident and suspect the victim has suffered a spinal injury, be sure to instruct the person not to move and to call 911 immediately.
If you have no idea what happened or how that person was injured, follow the spinal injury protocols and directions from the 911 operator. If you see a victim that is experiencing different levels of consciousness, is unable to move their neck or head, complaining of neck or back pain, has experienced blunt force trauma to the head, has lost control of his or her limbs, bladder, or bowels, or is positioned unnaturally, assume that this person has suffered a severe spinal injury and be sure not to move the victim.
If possible, place heavy towels on either side of the victim’s head to prevent involuntary movement. If the victim is conscious, continually reassure them until rescue workers arrive to prevent panic. If the person was on a motorcycle or bicycle at the time of the accident, be sure to leave the helmet on, even if the victim asks you to remove it. If you have to perform CPR, do NOT tilt the head back, instead pull the jaw forward with your fingers to clear the airway and if you have to roll the person onto his or her side, be sure to enlist the help of someone else. Work together to keep the spine aligned with the head while you roll. You should only do this in cases of extreme emergency, such as vomiting or choking on blood.
Lasting Effects
Just like a snowflake, no spinal cord injury is an exact copy of another. The spinal cord is divided into four sections: cervical, thoracic, lumbar and sacral. Each section is there to protect nerves that help to control the body’s functions or movements. Generally , the higher up the spine the injury occurs, the more severe the injury is.
