Major accidents usually result in severe injuries sustained by one or more persons. Among these injuries, however, injuries to the spine is the worst to be suffered by those involved in the accident. Usually, this type of injury results to paraplegia, which is the inability to move the lower portion of the body, or quadriplegia, which is the total loss of movement in all parts of the body. While it is true there are some victims of spinal cord injury that seemed to recover after a year of rehabilitation, they are still susceptible to long-term health issues which may beleaguer them without end. Continue Reading »

Bowel care routines after spinal cord injury must be established and tailored to patients’ individual needs. Policies and procedures need to be regularly reviewed

This case study explores the problems that can occur when patients receive ineffective bowel care following spinal cord injury. It also investigates the implications of using anal irrigation for specialist and generalist nurses, education and audit. Continue Reading »

NEW YORK, June 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — United Spinal Association (www.unitedspinal.org) and National Spinal Cord Injury Association (www.spinalcord.org) have joined forces to create an informative and clear-cut analysis on the recently enacted healthcare and insurance reforms that explain in detail how they improve the lives of people with disabilities. Continue Reading »

Be counted: Living with paralysis? Care about the cause? Add your voice. Show the world the strength of our community!

The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation has just relaunched the Campaign to Cure Paralysis map, now with better visualization tools and an expanded access to the paralysis community.

The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation is asking those affected by paralysis — the injured, their families and friends, caregivers and professionals — to add their names and stories to this map. Continue Reading »

Early treatment for patients with traumatic spinal cord injury produces the best outcomes.

If there’s one thing nurses should know about traumatic spinal cord injury, it’s that early, aggressive treatment is the best hope for keeping a bad situation from getting worse.

“It’s important to be aware that not all injury to the spinal cord occurs at impact,” said Karen A. McQuillan, MS, RN, CCRN, CNRN. “By aggressively managing a lot of risk factors at the beginning, you can reduce the potential for secondary injury and greatly influence the best outcomes.” Continue Reading »

The leading cause of spinal cord injuries are automobile accidents. The automobile accident rate has increased over the years, probably relating to the fact that there are more cars and more drivers than ever before. Injury accidents vary in severity; what body part is injured and how severe the collision will determine the impact on a victim’s life. Unfortunately, more than half of the people who have been seriously injured in an automobile accident are between the ages of 16 and 30; to lose body function at such a young age is more than catastrophic. Continue Reading »

Paraplegia is paralysis (loss of movement or sensation, or both) brought on by a severe trauma to the central nervous system. It is the result of damage occurring at the level of the thoracic or lumbar vertebrae of the spinal cord, or lower.

The location of the spinal cord injury (SCI) is very important as the higher up the injury, the greater the area of paralysis. Continue Reading »

Americans’ love affair with automobiles has come with a cost higher than the price of the cars. Although stroke is the leading cause of paralysis in this country, auto accidents account for 41.3 of the nation’s paralyzing spinal cord injuries.

That’s tragic, of course, but there is some good news: Very promising research is taking place at the University of Louisville’s Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center and the University of Kentucky’s Spinal Cord & Brain Injury Research Center. Continue Reading »

Ben Sykes, executive director of the UK National Stem Cell Network gives an overview of where stem cell research is heading

Few readers of this article will not have read a news story or heard a news report about stem cell research and its current and potential medical applications. After all, it is an exciting and promising area of science. Continue Reading »

A recent paper in the journal Nature Medicine sheds some important new light on the underlying mechanisms of spasticity that often develops after a spinal cord injury. Involuntary contractions of muscles, or spasticity, can have potentially serious consequences, and although medications are available that reduce spasticity, they can also interfere with positive motor functions or rehabilitation.

Although spasticity represents an involuntary movement of muscle, the muscular activity originates with excited neurons telling the muscles to constantly move and contract (hyperexcitability). Continue Reading »