The brain, spinal cord and spinal nerves literally control all the functions of the body. When the spinal cord becomes injured, it can cause debilitating symptoms including quadriplegia, paraplegia and even death. There are two main types of spinal cord injury: complete and incomplete. In a complete spinal cord injury, patients are completely paralyzed below the level of the injury. With an incomplete injury, the patient retains either sensation or motor ability below the level of injury. According to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center (NSCISC), there are over 12,000 cases of new spinal cord injury each year in the United States.
Motor Vehicle Accidents
Traumatic injury to the spinal cord is by far the most common type of injury, and motor vehicle accidents are responsible for between 40 and 50 percent of all spinal cord injuries, according to Mayo Clinic. Violent motor vehicle accidents cause trauma to the spine and soft tissues that then lead to compression or damage to the nerve fibers within the cord. Mayo Clinic also reports that one in four spinal cord injuries are related to the use of alcohol.
Sports Injury
Spinal Injury Network reports that sporting injuries are responsible for a small percentage of the total spinal cord injuries each year. Within this category, diving accidents, where a person dives into shallow water, make up an overwhelming majority. Spinal cord injury due to sports trauma makes up about 7.6% of all injuries.
Violence
Unfortunately, violence is responsible for 15% of all spinal cord injuries, according to (NSCISC) statistics. Most of these injuries are caused by gunshot wounds or knife wounds where the foreign object passes through and damages the spinal cord directly.
Falls
The Mayo Clinic reports that, for adults over the age of 65, falls are the most common cause of spinal cord injury, and represent about 25 percent of all spinal cord injuries. Remaining active and maintaining proper balance later into life is critical in so many ways but can be especially important in preventing falls that may lead to spinal cord injury.
Tumors
There are several different tumors that may be cancerous or noncancerous and will predominantly affect the spinal cord, such as astrocytoma, ependymoma, neurofibroma and meningioma. These tumors may originate within the cells of nervous tissue or in nearby tissues and then compress the spinal cord. Cancerous tumors can also metastasize from cancer in another part of the body and then develop in the spinal cord. Symptoms caused by a spinal cord tumor, such as muscle weakness in the arms or legs, loss of sensation or loss of control to the bowel and bladder, can come on slowly or suddenly.
