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Essay on Repairing Spinal Cord Injuries

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Injuries can happen to anyone, anywhere. Injuries affect people’s lives as they limit their choices, temporarily or permanently. Most injuries are not preventable, because most happen unexpectedly. For example, spinal cord injuries can occur if a person falls abruptly on his/her back and shatters their spinal cord. Although injuries cannot be prevented, they can be healed. New technologies are under development to solve major injuries, which do not yet have a cure. One of these major injuries is a spinal cord injury.
The human body consists of many important systems. The nervous system is one of these that ensure survival of a person. The nervous system is split into two main parts. The spinal cord and the brain make up the Central …show more content…

This results in either a loss of sensation, or a loss of perception. According to the Rick Hansen Spinal Cord Injury Registry, vehicle accidents make up 46% of spinal cord injuries. Acts of violence (from knife wounds or gun shots) make up 11% of spinal cord injuries. Falls and sports injuries make up 24%, industrial accidents (damages from chemicals) make up 5%, and other injuries (such as inflammation of the spinal cord) make up 14% of spinal cord injuries. The survival rate is reasonably high for those suffering from spinal cord injuries, but life will never be normal again. Since the connection between the brain and the receptor or effector is damaged, stimulations may not be interpreted or signals may not reach the effector. This might result in loss of balance, coordination, loss of sensation, uncontrolled movements, and paralysis.
It is important to note that nerves in the CNS do not regenerate, while nerves in the PNS do regenerate. This is why when a person gets a cut; it completely heals in several days. But a person with spinal cord injury cannot completely heal because spinal cord does not contain neurilemma, a membrane that promotes regeneration of neurons. It was thought that the neurons would not regenerate once damaged. However, research has found that they do indeed have the ability to regenerate if scars do not obstruct the regenerative process. Scars are the result of astrocytes and

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