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Understanding Spinal Cord Injury450,000 Americans Are Living With SCI

What is Spinal Cord Injury?

Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) is damage to the spinal cord that results in a loss of function such as mobility or feeling. Frequent causes of damage are trauma (car accident, gunshot, falls, etc.) or disease (polio, spina bifida, Friedreich's Ataxia, etc.). The spinal cord does not have to be severed in order for a loss of functioning to occur. In fact, in most people with SCI, the spinal cord is intact, but the damage to it results in loss of functioning. SCI is very different from back injuries such as ruptured disks, spinal stenosis or pinched nerves.

A person can "break their back or neck" yet not sustain a spinal cord injury if only the bones around the spinal cord (the vertebrae) are damaged, but the spinal cord is not affected. In these situations, the individual may not experience paralysis after the bones are stabilized.

Did you know?

• Approximately 450,000 people live with SCI in the US.
• There are about 10,000 new SCI's every year; the majority of them (82%) involve males between the ages of 16-30.
• These injuries result from motor vehicle accidents (36%), violence (28.9%), or falls (21.2%).
• Quadriplegia is slightly more common than paraplegia.

Levels of Function in Spinal Cord Injury

Do people with SCI ever get better?

When a SCI occurs, there is usually swelling of the spinal cord. This may cause changes in virtually every system in the body. After days or weeks, the swelling begins to go down and people may regain some functioning. With many injuries, especially incomplete injuries, the individual may recover some functioning as late as 18 months after the injury. In very rare cases, people with SCI will regain some functioning years after the injury. However, only a very small fraction of individuals sustaining SCIs recover all functioning.

Source: www.spinalinjury.net

Medical Issues

People with Spinal Cord Injury potentially face additional medical challenges, including:

• Urinary System and Bladder Issues
  

  Nerves near the end of the spinal cord (the sacral level of the spine) control how the urinary system works. The spinal cord injury usually does not affect how the kidneys work or how the urine collects in the bladder. The changes that usually take place after an SCI are how the bladder and sphincter muscles work.

  After a spinal cord injury, messages can no longer travel normally between the bladder or sphincter muscles and the brain. Individuals usually can not feel when the bladder is full or they do not have the "urge" to urinate. The bladder muscles and sphincter muscles must work together so you have control of when you urinate (empty your bladder). These muscles also cause the bladder to empty completely.

  Source: RRTC in Secondary Complications in SCI at the University of Alabama at Birmingham,
  Dept. of P, M & R

• Urologic Care and Management: Using Catheters

  During SCI rehabilitation, patients learn different ways to empty their bladder. The methods most frequently used are intermittent catheterization (ICP); indwelling catheter (Foley); and the condom external catheter for males.

  Source: RRTC in Secondary Complications in SCI at the University of Alabama at Birmingham,
  Dept. of P, M & R

  UroMed provides only the highest quality catheters and medical supplies from the leading name brand urology and incontinence supply manufacturers to help patients and caregivers with the most effective and reliable products for urological and incontinence care.

Spinal Cord Injury Resources

UroMed provides links to the following educational resources for patients, caregivers and medical professionals to help increase awareness, support and assistance for people affected by Spinal Cord Injury.

We are also strong advocates. Our Founder, Bert Burns, lives with SCI and almost 20% of UroMed’s Customer Care Associates or one of their family members has some form of disability. See Bert's Story to learn more about his remarkable accomplishments and motivational speaking program, Life After SIC.

National Spinal Cord Injury Association

Founded in 1948, the National Spinal Cord Injury Association is the nation's oldest and largest civilian organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for hundreds of thousands of Americans living with the results of spinal cord injury and disease (SCI/D) and their families.

The NSCIA website, www.spinalcord.org, provides free information, ongoing support and a variety of programs for SCI patients, including:

• The NSCIA Resource Center provides information and referral to individuals with new and existing SCI/D, their families and their service providers.
• Their National Peer Support Network connects site visitors to programs across the country, linking people with SCI/D to each other.
• Local Chapters: NSCIA has 21 Chapters and 19 Support groups actively serving their communities.
• SCI Life magazine is free of charge for site visitors. SCI Life’s editor, Lex Frieden, was recently sworn in by President Bush as chair of the National Council on Disability.
• NSCIA also supports ongoing legislative initiatives regarding issues affecting people with SCI/D.

Living With Spinal Cord Injury

Reclaiming Life After A Spinal Cord Injury