Spinal Cord Injury

The term spinal cord injury (SCI) refers to damage to the spinal cord resulting from trauma (e.g. from falls and road traffic injuries) or non-traumatic causes like tumours, degenerative and vascular conditions, infections, toxins or birth defects.

The extent of SCI related impairment depends on injury severity and location in the spinal cord. SCI results in complete or incomplete loss of sensory and/or motor functions below injury level. In paraplegia arm functions are preserved; in tetraplegia they are affected. Autonomic nervous system dysfunction affecting diverse functions can occur at any level of injury.

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Depending on injury severity and location, people with SCI can experience

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• partial or complete loss of sensory and/or motor functions (including respiratory muscle functions)

• bowel, bladder and sexual dysfunction

• dysregulation of blood pressure, heart rate, and/or body temperature.

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SCI is often associated with a risk of developing complications, including debilitating and potentially life-threatening secondary conditions, such as

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• spasticity

• (chronic) pain

• urinary tract infections

• pressure ulcers

• respiratory complications

• autonomic dysreflexia

• deep vein thrombosis

• osteoporosis.