Spinal Cord Injury ( Sci )

There are many types of spinal cord injuries (SCI). Patients with SCI can symptoms that range from mild neurologic impairment (such as numbness and tingling of extremities or neck pain) to devastating total body paralysis depending on the extent of damage and where in the spinal cord the damage occurs. Management of airway, breathing and circulation are key with SCI patients, as well as immediate immobilization. With proper care and intervention, chances of survival are greatly improved.

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.

A Spinal Cord Injury is damage to any part of the Spinal Cord nerves at the end of the Spinal Canal. Every Year, 17,000 Spinal Cord Injuries are reported in the USA alone. The Most Frequent age for Spinal Cord Injuries is 19. Almost 200 Spinal Cord Injuries were reported for High School Football. People who suffer from SCI (Spinal Cord injuries) can experience muscle weakness, poor coordination, and overactive reflexes.There is many

     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

After researching about paraplegic and quadriplegic, it has been determined how they occur and in what parts of the body they affect. According to John Hopkins Medical, if a person suffers with paraplegic or quadriplegic, it is caused by damage to the spinal cord. To determine whether a person has a spinal injury, doctors will use clinical signs to help determine the severity of the injury. When the spinal cord has been injured, the patient might feel pain, and some disorders; such as motor or sensory. When this occurs, it allows the doctor to determine the cause of the injury, however; most spinal injuries are caused by traumatic accidents. The two

King will be talking about how dangerous football is. There will be knee cartilagae tears. I will also be talking about spine injuries. The final thing is death. Thatnis all.

Five criteria must be met which includes authority, information, objectivity, ease of navigation and privacy and security policies. The website used for my research was www.christopherreeve.org. The website met the five criteria. Authority was displayed in several ways. The author, Judith Lubinsky is qualified as an expert in the spinal cord injury field. Judith is responsible for web production and social media for the website. The contact information and credentials for the author was clearly stated. Information is updated daily to keep readers informed of any changes. The information posted is accurate and appropriate for the intended audience. The author provides an unbiased comprehensive review of spinal cord injuries and management. The sponsor for the website is The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. The source of funding does not have an impact on the information provided. The website provides easy navigation with reliable information, treatment options, clinical trials and ways to get involved. The website provided clear privacy and security

In the United States, there are approximately 17,000 new cases of spinal cord injuries every year and it is estimated that as of the year 2016 approximately 282,000 people in the United States have an injury to the spinal cord to some degree (NSCISC 2016). The diagnosis of a spinal cord injury includes any damage to the spinal cord, including the nerves associated with it. This kind of injury causes permanent damage to the body by a decrease in strength, sensation, and body functions (Shroff et al. 2017). Spinal cord injuries are particularly hard to treat because each injury is different and the cells associated with the spinal cord are hard to target and treat. In most cases, no improvement functionally is made and the symptoms are permanent.

The limited space within the vertebrae actually plays an important roll in spinal cord injury. Once the initial injury occurs the body, as with every other part of the body, tries to protect the injured area with swelling. But the swelling occurs within the small confines of the spinal column and causes further damage to the surrounding tissue. It has only recently been discovered how much of an impact this secondary damage has. One of the areas of crucial ongoing research is on what kind of window of opportunity medicine has in treating these types of injuries and still attaining the best recovery.

NINDS Spinal Cord Injury Information Page. (2016, March 23). Retrieved March 26, 2016, from http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/sci/sci.htm

In the United States alone, there are approximately 12,000 new spinal cord injury cases each year (The National SCI Statistical Center [NSCISC], 2013). The severity of the patient’s injuries depends on how severe the spinal cord injury is, and where it is located at on the spinal column. If the spinal cord injury is complete, it renders the patient paralyzed below the injury. If the spinal cord injury is incomplete, the patient may have some movement and sensation below the injury (Medline Plus, 2014).

While true spinal cord trauma is a devastating injury its actual incidence is extremely low. In a study that examined one million trauma victims, only 2% had true spinal cord damage and of that 2%, only 1% had neurological deficits of any kind. Moreover, there is little data to suggest that our efforts at spinal immobilization are even effective. (Santa Cruz County EMS Integration Authority, 2012, para. 2)

Spinal cord trauma affects a multitude of individuals globally. Many common spinal cord injuries occur frequently from motor vehicle accidents, athletics, falls, and disease and are not curable (Center NSCISC 2013). Depending on the area that is damaged, there are numerous consequences of spinal cord injuries that affect the body in different ways. As individuals age, their susceptibility to such injuries significantly increases and is frequently caused by falling. However, anyone is susceptible to spinal cord trauma. In the United States, 906 individuals per one million have some sort of spinal cord injury. The peak age of those affected is younger than thirty and the elderly. The most prevalent reason comes from automobile accidents and

According to Chiles and Cooper (1996) spinal injury should always be suspected in patients with severe systemic trauma, patients

A major site of injury that puts many essential neurons at risk is the spinal cord, which contains many neurons essential for proper motor functionality. The spinal cord is made up of nervous tissue within spinal vertebrae. The spinal cord receives sensory information from the skin, muscles, joints, tissues, as well as other parts of the body, and then relays information to and from the brain. Injury to the spinal cord can cause dislocation of vertebrae, resulting in various paralyzing disabilities such as quadriplegia (paralysis from the neck down) or paraplegia (paralysis of the lower body). The severity of the disability depends on the location of the injury (Schwab et al. 2002). There are two main phases of spinal cord injury. The first phase is physical tissue destruction, which is followed by tissue loss caused by irregular blood supply to the injury site. Because of this disrupted blood supply,