Spinal cord injuries are one of the most traumatic injuries a person can experience

October 30, 2016, Kitchener, Ontario

Posted by: Robert Deutschmann, Personal Injury Lawyer

The Spinal Cord Injury Effect

What are spinal cord injuries and how they can effect your life.

Spinal Cord injuries have been treated here in Canada, since the 1940’s, but according to Spinal Cord Injury Ontario, 90 per cent of what medicine knows about these types of injuries has been discovered in the past 20 years.

A spinal cord injury (SCI for short) happens when someone breaks their vertebrae, the bone that protects the spinal cord. When the vertebra is broken, it crushes the nerves behind it, blocking signals sent from these nerve endings to the brain. These signals make the body move, and without these signals, a person loses the mobility to move becoming paraplegic. Sometimes even when the vertebra is crushed, nerves signals can still reach the brain. This results in an incomplete SCI where someone gain back some movement, or can use one side of their body more than the other. The important thing to understand is the different levels of severity in SCI cases.

 Some people who injure their lower spine will have more mobility than people who damage their upper spine. Somebody who injures their sacral nerves (bottom of the spine) will be more likely to be able to walk again compared to every other spinal injury. Spinal Cord Injury Ontario, an organization devoted to helping people with spinal injuries across the province, calculate that it will take a person two to three years to become independent again after an accident that damages the spinal cord.

Although they have different severities, SCI also have different effects on the body, resulting in different medical conditions. More well-known terms for spinal cord injuries are paraplegic and quadriplegia. Paraplegics suffer from spinal cord injuries that affect a person from the waist down; while Quadriplegia affects all four limbs of the injured person as well as their torso. Less common spinal cord injury terms are monoplegia and hemiplegia. Both aren’t initially caused by damage to the spine, but can cause a form of paralysis. Monoplegia can affect the muscles of one limb (commonly an arm) and hemiplegia affects the arm, leg, and possibly some of the torso on one side of the body.

Spinal injuries can happen at any time, but the most common incidents are unintentional slips and car accidents.  The Spinal Cord Injury Ontario estimates that eleven people each week will suffer from a SCI. While every age group can be affected by a spinal injury, Spinal Cord Injury Ontario found that more spinal injuries occur between people 20-29 and people over the age of 70.

Cited as one of the most traumatic experiences a person can experience by Spinal Cord Injury Ontario, it can be hard adjusting to life with a SCI. Sadness, anger, disbelief, and denial are only a few of the many different emotions people develop while trying to transition into a new reality. A SCI not only affects an individual’s well-being, but it can also affect the well-being of family and friends. SCI often test relationships individuals have with other people.

 Fortunately there are many resources and tools that people can use to help them cope with a spinal injury.  SCI Ontario, the Rick Hansen Institute, The CSS (Canadian Spine Society) and government programs like CPP Disability and Assisted Living are all programs designed to provide people with medical, mental, emotional, and financial help through research, fundraising, support groups and more.

Individuals with SCI’s can also help themselves by learning more about their SCI and how it will affect their life. While websites like Spinalinjury101.com, caution people against spontaneous web surfing, they also say to rely upon credible websites from reputable organizations for more information about spinal cord injuries, as they also offer tools and checklists to help.

Spinal cord injuries can be difficult and challenging, but there are many opportunities for people to increase the quality of their life, including legal options. Those receiving a SCI from a car accident and can prove that the other person (which can mean anyone form a doctor to a business to another person), or that the SCI has worsened because of someone else’s negligence, can be entitled to compensation. More information can be found on our main website, www.deutschmannlaw.com

Article prepared by Ariel Deutschmann

All information and statics was found within these articles;

http://www.sciontario.org/what-is-an-sci

http://www.spinalinjury101.org/details/coping

http://www.rickhanseninstitute.org/

http://www.spinalcord.org/resource-center/askus/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=1638

https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/services/benefits/disability/living.html

http://spinecanada.ca/about-css/our-vision-and-values/

http://www.spinalinjury101.org/details/levels-of-injury

http://www.sciontario.org/faq/introduction/fast-facts

http://www.spinalcord.com/monoplegia

http://www.spinalcord.com/hemiplegia

http://www.spinalcord.com/quadraplegia

http://www.spinalcord.com/paraplegia

https://www.deutschmannlaw.com/

About Deutschmann Law

Deutschmann Law serves South-Western Ontario with offices in Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, Woodstock, Brantford, Stratford and Ayr. The law practice of Robert Deutschmann focuses almost exclusively in personal injury and disability insurance matters. For more information, please visit www.deutschmannlaw.com or call us at 1-519-742-7774.

The opinions expressed here, while intended to provide useful information, should not be interpreted as legal recommendations or advice.