What is the most Common Spine Injury?

What is the most Common Spine Injury? Spine Injury is quite common and the most common is becoming an incomplete paraplegic either in the cervical or thoracic areas of the spine. If the victim sustains a complete injury they will be wheelchair-bound and not able to move from the waist up (depending on where the injury took place).

The most common is incomplete paraplegia where the injury is partial, limiting the mobility and lifestyle of the person involved.

Spine Injury

If the spinal cord injury is not complete it is incomplete and the ability to convey messages to the brain is not totally lost. The faint sensation can still also be felt below the injury site. People with a complete spinal injury usually have no feeling and no ability to convey messages to the brain.

Once you have a complete spinal cord injury, the reality is you will be in a wheelchair for life, unable to stand up and walk. An incomplete injury will allow you a bit more freedom, and maybe to walk with assistance, this can vary.

Causes of Spine Injury

• A common cause of spinal injuries is motor vehicle accidents.
• Falls from a height
• Sporting injuries
• Spina Bifida
• Stroke

Diagnosis of Spine Injury

Spine injury requires medical diagnosis and often long hospitalization, involving treatments. A spinal injury will usually result in lifetime care and treatment. If you have incurred the injury while at work, compensation should be claimed.

If it happens during a sporting event, you should be entitled to an Insurance claim. There are different levels of spinal cord injury.

• Cervical
• Thoracic
• Lumbar
• Sacral

Treatment of Spinal Cord Injury

If you suspect a spinal cord injury has occurred it is important that the person is kept very still and you may need traction to keep the movement from taking place. Any movement can often cause worse trauma and injury to occur.

If an injury has happened it would be unusual for the person to regain full function, but this can happen if the injury is just bruising. So do not move them without support and assistance.

Care of Spine Injury

This is what ultimately determines the level of movement that the person will be capable of in and following rehabilitation, usually a lengthy process taking more than a year, and costing a huge amount to both the community and the individual.

Once in a hospital, the person will be placed in a team of healthcare professionals who will coordinate the care to get the best outcome for the patient.

The patient stays in a medical setting and during the process, the individual is taught a lot of things that will be useful to them in their new life as a paraplegic. Once the rehabilitation is completed, their house must be modified so that it is completely wheelchair-friendly.

Life Expectancy Following Spinal Injury

The prognosis is not always good, and a person who injures their spine at age 60 will have a life expectancy of around 7 years. Without the proper spine treatment, the person would deteriorate and die quite quickly. As with most things the better the treatment the better the outcome.

Modifying a House to Accommodate Spinal Injury

The house is assessed by an Occupational Therapist, and suggestions made to put strategies in place for the person to live independently. Sometimes doors have to be widened to allow access for wheelchairs, and other rooms like the kitchen and bathroom also have to be modified.

This can mean lowering kitchen appliances and benchtops so that the person can cook, and perform other domestic activities in order to remain independent. If the person was unable to care for themselves, they might need to move to a care facility permanently.

Can Spinal Injury be Cured

At the moment spinal injury cannot be cured, only treated. People often ask about stem-cell-related therapies, but so far they have not been suitable for spinal cord repair. A version of stem cell therapy is being trialed in Japan, but no results are yet available.

What is the most Common Spine Injury? – Conclusion

It is very important that we try to prevent spinal injury from occurring at the beginning as the cost to the individual and to the hospital system is overwhelming, we want everyone to lead their best possible lives free from spine injury trauma.