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Spinal cord injury
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The spinal cord is a bundle of nerves that runs inside the spinal column, and its job is to carry signals back and forth between the body and the brain. A spinal cord injury, or SCI, is damage that interrupts this two-way flow of messages.
It usually begins with a blow that fractures a vertebra (breaks it) or dislocates it (knocks it out of place). The vertebrae are the individual bones that make up the spine. And here is the key point: most of the time the cord is not severed. What damages it are bone fragments from the vertebrae that tear its tissue or squeeze its nerve fibers, the threads that carry the messages. Think of a lamp cord, which can stop working without anyone cutting it, simply because something crushes it or tears its insulation.
The injury can take one of two forms. In a complete injury, no signals get past the damaged spot, and the body below it is paralyzed, unable to move. In an incomplete injury, the pathway is not fully blocked: some movement and some sensation remain below the injury. Picture a highway after a landslide. Sometimes it is closed completely and no car can reach the other side, and sometimes one lane stays open and a few manage to get through.
In brief
A spinal cord injury interrupts the signals that the spinal cord, a bundle of nerves inside the spinal column, carries back and forth between the body and the brain.
It typically begins with a blow that fractures or dislocates vertebrae. In most cases the cord is not severed; instead, bone fragments from the vertebrae tear its tissue or compress its nerve fibers.
The injury can be complete: no signals get past it, and there is paralysis below it. Or it can be incomplete: some movement and sensation remain below it.
Sources (2)
- MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine (NIH)Spinal Cord Injuries, MedlinePlus Health TopicsPublished
- MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia, National Library of Medicine (NIH)Spinal cord trauma, MedlinePlus Medical EncyclopediaPublished
This page explains the topic in general terms; it does not tell anyone what treatment to follow.
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