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Spinal Cord Injuries - FAQs
- What is the difference between a spinal cord injury and a brain injury?
- How common are spinal cord injuries and what are the common causes?
- What are the spinal cord and a spinal cord injury?
What is the difference between a spinal cord injury and a brain injury?
Functioning of the brain and the spinal cord are interconnected because they combine to make a body’s Central Nervous System.
Trauma to the head or neck region can cause the brain to bruise, bleed, tear, and/or swell. One possible result of a brain injury is paralysis, loss of vital body functions and even death.
Spinal cord injuries can result in the same types of injuries, but spine injuries occur when a traumatic event results in damage to cells within the spinal cord or severs the nerve tracts that relay signals up and down the spinal cord—to and from the brain.
How common are spinal cord injuries and what are the common causes?
In the U.S., approximately 12,000-15,000 people per year sustain an injury to their spinal cord. Of those, about 10,000 are permanently paralyzed, and many others die.
Automobile accidents cause around 40 percent of all spinal-cord injures. Other common causes include falls, violence and sports injuries.
What are the spinal cord and a spinal cord injury?
The spinal cord is a major bundle of nerves that extends from the base of the brain and down the back about 18 inches to the waist. It carries nerve impulses between the brain and the rest of the body.
Spinal cord injuries are different from back injuries such as ruptured discs or herniated discs, spinal stenosis or pinched nerves. A person can have a broken spine/back or a broken neck that doesn't actually affect the spinal cord. If only the bones around the spinal cord (the vertebrae) are damaged and the spinal cord is not affected, it's technically not a spinal cord injury.
Sieben, Grose, Von Holtum & Carey helps victims with all types of spine, neck, back, vertebrae and spinal cord injuries that result from someone else's carelessness.
Sources:
http://www.brainandspinalcord.org/cerebral-palsy/types/athetoid-dyskinetic.html
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/spinal-cord-injury/DS00460/DSECTION=causes
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-myelopathy.htm
http://www.wikipedia.com/paralysis
http://www.azinjurycenter.com/PracticeAreas/Spinal_Cord-Brain_Injury.asp
http://www.lawinfo.com/fuseaction/Client.lawarea/categoryid/1185
