Paraplegia is a major medical condition characterized by partial or complete paralysis of the lower extremities. This type of paralysis occurs as a result of damage to certain areas of the spinal cord, which runs from your neck to your lower back. Individuals with paraplegia typically experience serious deficits to their muscle health and require some form of rehabilitation.
Basics
Paraplegia typically occurs when the spinal cord is damaged in the chest or lower back. Under normal conditions, this cord and the nerves emerging from it provide you with both movement and your sense of touch. Depending on the circumstances, damage to your spinal cord can produce complete muscular paralysis or varying degrees of partial paralysis. Common causes of paraplegia include physical trauma to the spinal cord, multiple sclerosis and a birth defect called spina bifida. Another genetic disorder, hereditary spastic paraplegia, triggers progressive stiffness and weakness in the leg muscles.
Muscle Spasms
Normally, reflexive movements of your muscles are controlled by signals passed from your brain through your spinal cord. When the cord sustains damage, blockage of these signals can seriously degrade your ability to properly control your reflexes. Over time, these unregulated reflexes can increase abnormally in strength, leading to the development of muscle spasms that can significantly contort your body. In some cases, these contortions can lead to the onset of lesions called pressure sores. However, paraplegia-related spasms can also activate and tone your muscles and partially offset the effects of the muscle limpness associated with paralysis.
Rehabilitation
Rehabilitation for paraplegia typically involves exercises designed to strengthen your muscles, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Since no two spinal cord cases are the same, your doctor, physical therapist and other health care professionals will customize a rehabilitation for your particular needs. Depending on the degree of your injury, therapy for your muscles may require the use of leg braces, a walker or a wheelchair. Additional common features of a rehabilitation program include occupational and recreational therapy, as well as psychological care and treatment for any related skin and respiratory complications.
Considerations
While people with paraplegia usually have shorter-than-average lifespans, their life expectancies have risen along with improvements in quality of care, the Disabled World website reports. In some cases, paraplegics experience residual symptoms called "phantom pains" in areas of their bodies affected by paralysis. These pains may actually result from the brain's misinterpretation of signals generated by damaged nerves near the site of the spinal injury.
References
- Disabled World: What Is Paraplegia?; Paraplegic Facts and Definition
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke: Spinal Cord Injury; Hope Through Research
- Drugs.com: Paraplegia After Spinal Cord Injury
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke: NINDS Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia Information Page
