Understanding Spinal Cord Injury

The spinal cord enables communication between the brain and the rest of the body. It contains nerve cells, called neurons, and bundles of nerve fibres, or axons, that carry signals to and from the brain. All the information needed to initiate and control movement travels down the spinal cord from the brain to the muscles of the body. The majority of spinal cord injuries are due to preventable causes such as falls, road traffic accidents or sports injury.

A spinal cord injury (SCI) damages the communication pathway between the brain and certain parts of the body. Depending on the extent of the damage and its location in the cord, serious and permanent physical consequences will result in varying degrees of severity. Limbs or organs will not function as they did before. When the spinal column is damaged, for example by fracture or dislocation, the bony vertebrae can compress or bruise the fragile spinal cord. Although the initial injury leads to severed axons and the death or damage of many neurons outright, many neurons and axons remain intact, at least for a while. If the spine is weak because of another condition, such as arthritis, apparently minor injuries can cause spinal cord trauma.

A spinal cord injury requires immediate treatment to avoid long-term effects. In some cases, surgery might be recommended to stabilize the bones of the spine, but surgery does not necessarily reduce or repair nervous system injury. #spine #spinalcord #spineinjury #spinalcordinjury #cervicalinjury #cervicalspine #neuro #nervedamage #neurologist #specialist #doctor #spinedoctor #winnielimkhoo #health #manila #philippines #treatment #cure #healthy