News Briefs

Resources and Links - Spinal Cord Injury

A Spinal cord injury is damage to the spinal cord that causes loss of sensation (feeling) and motor (muscular) control.

About ten thousand new spinal cord injuries (SPI) occur each year in the United States. About 250,000 people currently have this condition. Spinal cord injury can happen to anyone at any time of life. The typical patient, however, is a man between the ages of nineteen and twenty-six. The most common causes of SPI are motor vehicle accidents (which are responsible for 50 percent of all cases), a fall (20 percent), an act of violence (15 percent), or a sporting accident (14 percent). Alcohol or drug abuse is involved in many of the accidents that result in spinal cord injuries.

About 6 percent of those who suffer injury to the lower spine die within a year while approximately 40 percent of those who suffer injury to the upper spine die within a year.

The spinal cord is a long rope-like piece of nervous tissue. It runs from the brain down the back. It is contained within the spinal column. The spinal column consists of a set of bones known as vertebrae.

Pairs of nerves travel from the spinal cord to muscles in the arms, legs, and other parts of the body. Messages travel from muscles to the spinal cord and then to the brain along one set of nerves. Messages travel in the opposite direction, from brain to spine to muscles, along the other set of nerves.

Each pair of nerves is connected to the spinal cord in the space between two adjacent vertebrae. The nerves are named for the vertebrae where they enter the spinal cord. The five sets of nerves connecting to the spinal cord are defined as follows:

• C1-8 nerves enter the spine near the eighth cervical vertebrae, located in the neck.
• T1-12 nerves enter the spine near the thoracic vertebrae, located in the chest.
• L1-5 nerves enter the spine near the lumbar vertebrae, in the lower back.
• S1-5 nerves enter the spine through the sacral vertebrae, located in the pelvis region.
• The coccygeal nerves (pronounced kock-SIHJ-ee-uhl) enter the spine through the coccyx, or tailbone.

Injury to the spinal cord may damage any one or more of these nerves. When nerves are damaged, messages can not travel from the brain to the body's muscles, or from the muscles to the brain. For example, a person may lose their sense of touch if nerve messages are not able to travel from the fingers to the brain. Or a person may lose the ability to walk if nerve messages can not travel from the brain to leg and foot muscles. Other functions, such as urination, sexual function, sweating, and blood pressure, may also be affected.

• Brain & Spinal Injury Trust Fund Commission - View our page about this fund.
• OASDI (Social Security Disability Insurance) - View our page about this fund.
• Travis Roy Foundation - View our page about this fund.