spinal cord

One of the most important components in the body that serves as the link between the various body parts to the brain is the spinal cord. In order for the body to function well, and for the body parts to be coordinated, the spinal cord must be in the right structure and position. Any harm or trauma to the spinal cord poses a great danger to a person and in fact, it can lead to paralysis, or worst, death. Without the spinal cord, a person will not be able to produce reflexes, perceive senses and perform body movements.
Spinal Cord Injury
Any trauma or damage to the spinal cord may result to either temporary or permanent deterioration in a person’s motor, sensory and autonomic capacity. Spinal cord injury may occur due to accidents such as blunt trauma, vehicular accident, gunshot and any similar accidents. But aside from that, other pre-existing medical conditions such as polio, spina bifida and cancer, among the long list, causes spinal cord injury to occur. The degree and part of the spine that has been injured will reflect the specific affectations in the body. Say for example in the case of “complete” spinal injury, all functions that are found under the said spinal level will diminish, whereas in the case of “incomplete” spinal cord injury, some of the functions below the injured level will be partially affected.
Treatment
Incurring Spinal cord injury is a high risk condition that a single wrong way in handling a patient may cause more neurologic damage. That is why, immediately after the accident, the patient must be handled appropriately and stabilization should be prioritize along with potent airway. Transporting a patient to the hospital should be properly done as it is considered very crucial. Treatment will consist of several courses of medical actions aimed to relieve the injury and prevent more damage. Care will be provided by the health care team who will collaborate with each other in order to provide the best of support to the spinal cord injury patient. Spinal cord injury recovery will have to be geared towards repairing the damage caused by accident.
During an accident, a person who has been injured will have to be given emergency treatment. Neck collar will have to be attached to the patient to provide stabilization. The patient will have to be placed in a carrying board and transported to the hospit