Most commonly, spinal cord injuries are incurred through external trauma. A spinal cord injury is damage to the spinal cord that results in a loss of function. This often means that the victim of a spinal cord injury will lose mobility, feeling, or both.
There are four types of spinal cord injuries: cervical, thoracic, lumbar, and sacral, all impacting different parts of the spine. Vertebra, or the rings of bone that surround the spinal cord, make up your back bone. The names of each region of the back bone can tell us where the spinal cord injury is and how each injury might impact the victim.
The vertebra in the neck are called the cervical vertebra. Cervical spinal cord injuries often cause a loss of function in the arms and legs. Thoracic vertebra are located near the chest and typically impact the chest and legs. The lower two regions of the back bone are the lumbar and sacral vertebra and injuries to these two regions often impact hip and pelvic movement.
In addition to the location of the injury on the spine, there are two types of spine injuries: complete and incomplete. An incomplete spinal cord injury means that the victim has some type of movement or feeling below the point of injury. A complete spinal cord injury means that the victim has no movement below the point of injury. Hiring a specialized spinal cord injury attorney will be able help you navigate the medical care and the costs associated with this care.
According to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center, spinal cord injuries are most often the result of vehicle accidents and falls.
Spine injuries can cause paralysis and loss of function. In addition, these injuries can cause bowel and bladder dysfunction, and involuntary functions like breathing. Low blood pressure and control of body temperature can also be impacted with these injuries.
Spinal cord injuries are life changing and require expensive and straining therapy, surgery, equipment and sometimes home alterations. In addition, sometimes a victim of a spinal cord injury will not be able to do the same job or work the way they did before the injury, resulting in the family’s income. Our experienced spinal cord injury lawyers fight to get you and your family compensation to cover the new and unexpected expenses caused by these injuries.