Spinecare Topics
Types of Spinal Injury
The most common cause of spinal cord injury is motor vehicle accidents. The next most prevalent cause of spinal cord injury results from falls, followed by acts of violence. Sports-related spinal cord injuries occur more commonly in children and teenagers, whereas work-related injuries are more common in adults.
Most individuals who acquire a spinal cord injury are in their teens or twenties. Approximately 80% of them are male. The most common cause of traumatic spinal cord injury after 65 years of age are falls. The most common cause of non-traumatic spinal cord compromise in elderly individuals is progressive spinal stenosis, a disorder associated with narrowing of the central spinal canal causing encroachment of the spinal cord. Progressive narrowing of the spinal canal can result in direct spinal cord compression. More than one-half of all spinal cord injuries occur in the neck (cervical) region. Another third of injuries occur in the thoracic area (where the ribs attach to the spine) with the remainder occurring in the upper lumbar region.
A complete spinal cord injury produces total loss of all muscle and sensory function below the level of injury. About one half of all spinal cord injuries are complete.
Even in complete spinal cord injuries, the spinal cord is rarely cut or transected. The loss of function is usually caused by a contusion or bruise in the spinal cord or by compromise of blood flow to the injured part of the spinal cord.
The anterior cord syndrome results from injury to the motor and sensory pathways in the anterior parts of the spinal cord. These patients can feel some types of crude sensation via the intact pathways in the posterior part of the spinal cord, but movement and more detailed sensation are lost.
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