SCI

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A spinal cord injury (SCI) is very serious because it can mean the loss of sensation and function in the parts of the body below the site of the injury. SCI’s are caused in many different ways. Some of the most common ways a person may obtain a SCI are- motor vehicle accidents, bullet or stab wound, diving accidents, electric shock, awkward positioning of the body, falls, sports injuries (such as football or diving), industrial accidents, assault and gunshot wounds. Polio, Spina Bifida and Friedreich’s Ataxia are some of the frequent diseases that cause SCI. SCI may also be know in other names such as spinal cord compression (SCC) and spinal cord trauma (SCT).
According to an article in , SCI’s occur in approximately 12,000 to 15,000 people per year in the U.S. About 10,000 of these people are permanently paralyzed, and many of the rest die as a result of their injuries. Most spinal cord trauma occurs to young, healthy individuals. Males between the ages of 15 and 35 are most commonly affected.
The spinal cord is about 18 inches long and extends from the base of the brain, down the middle of the back, to about the waist. It is composed of 33 bones called vertebrae, 31 pairs of nerves, 40 muscles and numerous connecting tendons and ligaments running from the base of the skull to the tailbone. Between the vertebrae are fibrous, elastic cartilage called discs. These absorb shock and keep your spine flexible and cushion the hard vertebrae as it moves. The nerves that lie within the spinal cord are upper motor neurons (UMN’s) and their function is to carry the messages back and forth from the brain to the spinal nerves along the spinal tract. The spinal nerves that branch out from the spinal cord to the other parts of the body are called lower motor neurons (LMN’s). These spinal nerves exit and enter at each vertebral level and communicate with specific areas of the body. The sensory portions of the LMN carry messages about sen...