By Matt Lalande in Spinal Cord Injuries on September 09, 2020
Your spinal cord is a vital part of your central nervous system, and even a small injury to it can lead to severe and catastrophic disability. For this reason, nature has encased the spinal cord within the thick layers of bone of the spinal column and surrounding muscle. Nevertheless, the spinal cord is vulnerable to injury and disease because it compresses so much function into a narrow structure. Spinal cord injuries are called either traumatic, which results from some sort of trauma, or non-traumatic, which results from disease.
When the spinal cord is damaged, the body may not function as it did. The brain and spinal cord may be unable to transmit messages to and from the brain about sensations like temperature, position, and touch. It also does not receive information back regarding movements of the arms, trunk (or torso), and legs. Both of these message relays occur in a matter of milliseconds.
For example, when someone pets a cat, sensory receptors in the person’s hand send signals along nerves to the spinal cord and brain. The sensation is then interpreted and experienced as soft and furry. By contrast, when a person is driving and a cat darts in front of his car, the brain analyzes this event as an emergency and relays a message through the driver’s spinal cord to move his foot and slam on the brakes.
Below are several types of spinal cord injuries often seen by our Hamilton spinal cord injury lawyers, along with some other important information:
Understanding the anatomy of the spinal cord is important for fully comprehending different types of spinal cord injury.
Your spinal cord is a soft, rope-like structure of millions of nerves and is surrounded (and protected) by 29 vertebral bones that make up the spinal column. The vertebrae are stacked one on top of another, and each has a hole, creating a canal through which your spinal cord passes. The vertebrae are cushioned from one another by spongy material called disks. Ligaments hold the vertebrae in the proper alignment.
The spine is separated into four sections. The cervical segment that constitute the neck, the thoracic segment, that run to the waist and attach to the ribs, the lower spine, or lumbar segment which essentially constitutes the lower back and lastly, the sacrum, or sacral segment, consisting of five fused vertebrae near the buttocks and above the tailbone.
Cervical spine (levels C1 to C8). This is the very top part of the spine, running from the head down the neck and ending where the neck meets the back and shoulders. Cervical spine injuries are among the most severe types of spinal cord injuries as this is the most narrow section of the spine, and it has a direct physical proximity to the brain.
Thoracic spine (levels T1 to T12). Also known as the upper back, the thoracic spine encompasses the middle of the back, running from the base of the neck down to the abdomen. It is the longest spinal cord section and supports many of the body’s vital organs, ribs, and nerves.
Lumbar spine (levels L1 to L5). Located in the lower back, nerves in the lumbar spine are responsible for sending messages to the bowels, legs, feet, and lower intestines. Generally, injuries at this level impact the lower body almost exclusively.
Sacral spine (levels S1 to S5). This level is located at the bottom of the spinal cord just above the buttocks and tailbone. Spinal cord injuries at this level are less common but are largely at risk during accidents such as slips and falls or with sports injuries.
Your spinal cord is a complex, fragile bundle of nerve fibres bound like a cable and less than an inch wide. It’s the primary connection between the brain and the rest of the body. It runs from the base of the brain down to the lower back and is surrounded by bone for protection. The spinal nerves are paired and travel to various parts of the body. There are 31 pairs of spinal nerves, numbered according to sections of your spinal column.
The spinal cord is divided into four sections: cervical, thoracic, and lumbar. Each is responsible for controlling a particular part of the body. Specifically, the cervical spinal cord carries information about movement and feeling to and from the upper body, arms, and hands. The thoracic cord does the same for the trunk, and the lumbar cord does the same for the lower body and legs.
In all three sections, sensory and motor information travel through different pathways, so one might be able to feel his leg even if they can’t move it. After the last section of the spinal cord (L1 or L2), a group of loosely bound nerves known as the lower lumbar and sacral cord continues downward.
In particular, the sections of the spinal and accompanying spinal nerves are as follows:
The cervical or neck section (C1 to C8) includes 8 nerves and 7 vertebrae in the neck area.
The thoracic or chest section (T1 to T12) includes 12 nerves and 12 vertebrae in the chest and abdomen (belly) area.
The lumbar or low back section (L1 to L5) includes 5 nerves and 5 vertebrae in the lower back. The spinal cord ends at the L2 level. Beyond this point, many nerves form the cauda equina, or “horse’s tail,” which is what the bundle of nerves looks like.
The sacral section (S1 to S5) includes the lowest nerves exiting the spinal cord in the pelvic area (area of the buttocks). The sacrum is actually several vertebral bones that are fused or attached to form one large bone with five nerves emerging from holes in each side of the bone.
Spinal Cord Injury arises from many causes, which are both traumatic and non-traumatic.
Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury. This often results from a sudden, traumatic impact on the spine that either fractures or dislocates vertebral bones. The initial forces delivered to the spinal cord during injury are known as primary injury, where displaced bone fragments, disc materials, and/or ligaments bruise or tear into the spinal cord tissue. Traumatic spinal cord injury often results from falls, motorcycle accidents, car accidents, trucking accidents, diving, assault, sports injuries and gunshot wounds.
Non-Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury. Non-traumatic SCI results from such disorders as tumours, ischemia (aneurysms, atherosclerosis), developmental disorders such as spinal bifida, demyelinating diseases such as MS, vascular malformation, disc herniation, spinal cord infections, blood clots, viral infections, non-malignant growths or spinal strokes.
Complete Spinal Cord Injury. This happens when the victim becomes paralyzed below the level of the injury to the spine. Messages cannot be relayed up or down the spinal cord below the point of injury, to or from the rest of the body, so all of your voluntary movement and sensation are beneath that level of injury.
Complete injuries will almost always cause the loss of sexual function and changes in a person’s bowel and bladder control. Complete spinal cord injuries are generally classified as traumatic injuries, as they involve severe and life-changing paralysis or loss of neurological function, and the chances of recovery are minimal.
Common classifications of complete spinal cord injury include:
Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury. An incomplete spinal cord injury occurs when the victim suffers damage to the spinal cord but does not become paralyzed and may still experience some form of function. Because the damage is only partial, some exchange of information is still possible between the brain and various body parts through the spinal cord. For example, an individual who suffers from incomplete tetraplegia will have some form of weakness in both the arms and legs but will still be able to move some muscles in these areas.
There are different types of incomplete spinal cord injury that may occur depending on the area of the spine that has been damaged. These include:
Anterior Cord Syndrome. This is the worst prognosis of the spinal cord syndromes. The anterior part of the spinal cord carries the sense of light touch and the muscle control for the upper extremities and the neck. The posterior part of the spinal cord carries sensory impulses from the sacral, lumbar, upper thoracic, lower thoracic areas of the body and the upper extremities.
Damage to this part of the spinal cord causes an absence or decrease of the sense of position and movement, a loss of the ability to tell the difference between being touched in two different places (two-point discrimination), a loss of the ability to sense vibration, and a loss of the ability to sense deep touch and pressure. However, the latter is questionable in some studies. Damage to this part of the spinal cord also interrupts impulses for voluntary motion and pain and temperature sensation.
Central Cord Syndrome. This is the most common incomplete injury to the spinal cord is Central Cord Syndrome. It is when an injury occurs in the centre of the cervical area of the spinal cord. This can result in loss of motor function or partial impairment in the hands and arms, and in rare cases the lower body.
Posterior Cord Syndrome. This is the least common spinal cord injury syndrome. It is caused by traumatic lesions which occur at the back of the spinal cord. Posterior cord syndrome is usually caused by traumatic hyperflexion, which is typically related to sports injuries or pedestrian/bicycle injuries. The lesions can also be caused by non-traumatic issues such as tumours or MS. Posterior cord syndrome usually results in the loss of vibration, fine touch, motor function, and proprioception at or below the level of injury.
Brown-Sequard Syndrome occurs when an injury occurs to one side or the hemisection of the spinal cord. The impacts of this injury are generally felt on one side of the body, resulting in partial paralysis or impairment. The affected person typically loses the sense of touch, vibrations, and/ or position in three dimensions below the level of the injury.
Brown-Sequard can be complete or incomplete. Complete Brown-Sequard is rarer than incomplete Brown-Sequard. Brown-Sequard can be caused by spinal cord tumor, penetrating or blunt trauma, degenerative disease, disc herniation, loss of blood flow, infection or inflammation (meningitis, empyema, herpes, myelitis, tuberculosis, syphilis, multiple sclerosis), hemorrhage and chiropractic manipulation.
Conus medullaris. This is another less common type of incomplete spinal cord injury that occurs when damage is sustained in the lumbar spine or lower back. It does not always lead to full paralysis but may result in some loss of function or weakness in the lower body.
Cauda Equina Syndrome. The section of the bottom of the spine is called the Cauda Equina, Latin for horse’s tail. Cauda Equina Syndrome (CES) is a neurological (nerve) condition that can be extremely disruptive to a person’s life. Cauda Equina Syndrome (CES) may be regarded as a form of spinal cord injury. Symptoms of Cauda Equina can be severe back pain, loss of sensation, weakness, bladder/bowel/sexual dysfunction, incontinence/retention of urine, incontinence of feces, impotence/loss of ejaculation or orgasm. The nerve roots of the Cauda Equina may be damaged by compression (herniated disc), stretching, inflammation,
A spinal cord injury lawyer can be a major asset if you or a loved one have suffered any type of spinal cord injury. Since 2003, our Hamilton spinal cord injury lawyers have been working with and assisting spinal cord injury victims across the province – we have extensive experience with spinal cord injury law and work with some of the Province’s top occupational and life care planning experts. Together, we can assist in ensuring that your future is protected, your accessibility costs are covered, and your daily living costs, rehabilitation, medication and therapy costs are covered – for life.
Book a free consultation with us today to go over the details of your condition, including the options available to you and the resources that could benefit you. All consultations are free, completely confidential, and come with no obligation to retain our services. We are simply here to help you during this difficult and life-changing time. You can fill in a contact form, call us nationwide at 1-844-LALANDE or local to the Hamilton / GTA area at 905-333-8888.
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