Spinal Cord Injury Essay

* Following a SCI, the first priority is often to help the patient develop as much possible strength in the

Injuries to the spinal cord may be caused indirectly, as by a blow to the head or a fall; by traffic accidents, sports injuries, or violence. The consequences depend on the amount of damage the cord sustains and where the damage occurs. Although spinal injuries are only a small fraction of all injuries; accidents cause an estimated 10,000 spinal cord injuries each year. Each year, more than two million Americans suffer a

My name is Rainee McDaniel and I am an 18 year old freshman at Texas State University. 1. My college experience is unlike any other because I am a quadriplegic. Quadriplegia is damage to the spinal cord around the area of one’s skull and neck, (Nathalie Smith, 2013). I can’t use any of my limbs, my arms and legs are basically useless to me. My wheelchair is what gets me around, I depend on it. (Józefowski, P., & Bolach, E) 1. There are many things I can’t do. I’m not given the opportunity to live that wild and crazy college life Nobody could even begin to understand what I go through on a daily basis, until they live it. “Quadriplegia involves paralysis of arms and legs” (Nathalie Smith, 2013), 4. I can’t even use the bathroom on my own.

Spinal cord injury is a sudden and devastating event for patients. The injury can be extremely debilitating and it may require a significant alteration in lifestyle post injury. P.R. has sustained a relatively high level (C6) spinal cord injury, which makes him very limited functional capacity. He will go through grieving process followed by anger for the loss of function and independence. This may be especially difficult for P.R. because he is a young man in his thirties who sustained a debilitating injury in a foreign country without any support from family and friends. Spinal cord injury has left P.R. unable to move his entire lower extremities and trunk muscles. He is unable to do the most basic activities, such as feeding and bowel movement without the help of a caregiver. For a young man who was active and completely independent, it is very difficult to accept this reality. It should also be noted that most of the nursing staff are females, which further damages his male ego for having total dependence.

1. For each of the following diagnostic test results, note which specific part of the brain would have to be damaged to create those symptoms. (include right and left sides in your analysis).

Now that I have shared a brief overview of the spinal cord and some statistics about spinal cord injuries, we will look at the past research that has led to the treatments most commonly used today. In 1990, a steroid called dexamethasone was discovered in human trials to preserve some motor and sensory function if administered at high doses within 8 hours of injury. Surgery used to remove fluid, tissue, or bone fragments, or to stabilize fractured vertebrae by fusing bones or inserting hardware has also proven to be one of the most thorough measures to prevent further harm. I received both of these treatments after my accident, and they are the same that have been used for the past decade. Until recently, doctors had no way of limiting such disabilities, aside from stabilizing the cord to prevent added destruction, treating infections, and prescribing rehabilitative therapy to maximize any remaining capabilities.

In my last year’s placement I had the privilege of Interning at the Veteran’s Affairs in the Spinal Cord Injury clinic. In the SCI clinic I worked closely with Veterans who had experienced spinal cord injury, which resulted in permanent paralyses such as paraplegia or quadriplegia. Ms. Cynthia Jackson was one of my clients that had an enormous impact on me. Ms. Jackson is 55 year old African American. Ms. Jackson served in the United Air force in the late 1970’s post-Vietnam War and was based in Germany. While serving in Air force, Ms. Jackson severely injured her back in tanker truck accident which resulted in paralysis in her lower exterminates. Ms. Jackson is wheelchair bond due to her paraplegia, client was referred to the SCI clinic for case management and counseling services.

Many people these days take their health and body for granted. Imagine losing the ability to walk suddenly due to an accident or a disease. This is exactly what had happened to Nancy Mairs, author of the essay “On Being a Cripple.” She herself had lost her ability to walk normally when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis or MS, a chronic disease that attacks the central nervous system. Her essay talks about her life and dealing with MS. The purpose of the essay is to show how being crippled affects your life and how to stay positive and deal with it.

     This essay is not intended to criticize any emergency medical or hospital staff. I am writing this essay out of concern for patients who come into the emergency room that may have a jeopardized spinal cord resulting from an injury or suspected injury to their cervical spine. I am a certified emergency medical technician, farm-medic instructor and currently a medical diagnostic student doing clinicial's. In the United States each year there are approximately 10,000 reported cervical spine injuries that come into emergency rooms. Motor vehicle accidents account for approximately 45%, falls approximately 30%, the remaining 25% from sports and miscellaneous. Although only a small amount of

How would people act or feel if their body is slowly weakening? Nancy Mairs, The author in the story “On Being A Cripple” shows that being a cripple does not make you different than anyone else. She also shows the reader that discriminating yourself will not just make it worse but it will be a disaster. To her she is a normal person but to others they see a “disabled” or “handicapped”.By using her experience on being a cripple, Mairs effectively draws the audience into her argument and shows them the good and the bad side of her condition. She uses many strategies that will make it easy for the readers to understand her essay. Mairs uses vivid descriptions, experience and her emotion to describe her life as

First off, my immediate goal and underlying themes I wish to emanate every day is to put smiles on peoples’ faces. I firmly believe that every person has the right to be happy and being able to rid those with afflictions will make life worth living. Through evaluating all of the shadowing I’ve been able to partake in and the classes I’ve had the privilege of taking, I’ve developed an idea of what the pinnacle would be for me as an Occupational Therapist. I desire to work with those afflicted by strokes or spinal injury. Paralysis and brain injury are two very intriguing matters that can surprisingly be combated and overcome with diligent and adequate work. This ideal has been in my head since I was first exposed to my grandmother’s recovery process from her stroke. Additionally, my other grandmother has also done some work with Occupational Therapists of late. She suffers from Trigeminal Neuralgia which has impaired her in many ways, in fact she has even had to recover from a stroke. Once again I was able to witness the changes in mood and function in a loved one who used occupational therapy after a stroke. In fact, this time I was able to see the impact of occupational therapy on the effects of Trigeminal Neuralgia as well which heightened my interest in the profession and reconfirmed my desire to become an Occupational Therapist and

The central nervous system is what connects the brain to the muscles of the body. When a patient has an injury to the spinal cord, movements in certain parts of the body will be affected based on the location of the injury. If the injury affects hand motion then many day to day tasks are affected. This literature review seeks to understand how an injury to the spinal cord impacts movement, and what has been done so far to help those affected by spinal cord injuries.

Spinal cord injury is a serious problem that effects close to 250,000 people in the United States with 10,000 people being injured per year . There are many things that can lead to spinal cord injury, including athletic injuries, car accidents, and recreational activities like swimming and biking. It primarily effects those between the ages of 16 and 30 and drastically effects the rest of their lives. It is a very debilitating injury that requires extensive medical care, often leaves the patients in a great deal of pain for the rest of their lives(2), and the treatment of which costs $10 billion dollars a year in the US.(facts from site 1) With all of these factors spurring research on there is a strong drive to

This section will focus on the social model and medical model. it has been reported that until the introduction of the social model of disability, the United States (US) policy focused on a medical approach. The similarities between these approaches is that they provide information on disability.

A review of the literature regarding spinal immobilisation has been undertaken using databases for PubMed, MEDLINE, CINAHL, OVID and Cochrane EBM. Reviews were electronically searched using the subject headings “spinal injuries”, “spinal immobilisation” and “management of spinal injuries”. The results generated by the search were limited to English language articles and reviewed for relevance to the topic. The aim of this literature review is to compare and contrast the views on spinal immobilisation and to achieve a better knowledge of evidence based practice.