- What is it?
- Spinal cord injury(SCI) is a non-progressive condition that results in a complete or incomprete loss of sensory, motor or autonomic function at the level of the lesion and distal to the lesion.
- Anatomy
- Images
- The spinal cord is surrounded and protected by the bony spinal column. The spinal column consists fo 33 veterbrae.
- The Spinal cord has three membranes : pia mater, arachnoid mater, dura mater.
- The spinal cord is made up gray matter and white matter
- Gray matter
- anterior(ventral) horns : contains lower moter neurons, descending tracts(from brain to spinal cord)
- posterior(dorsal) horns : contain sensory neurons, ascending tracts(from spinal cord to brain)
- lateral horns : sympathetic fibres from the autonomic nervous system(in the thoracic region)
- Gray matter
- There are 31 piars of spinal nerves
- Cause of SCI
- Direct Injury
- Most common segements : C4 to C6, then T12 to L1
- Indirect inhury
- Spinal hematoma, infection, neoplasm interruption of the cord’s blood supply due to surgery, cardiac arrest, aortic aneurysm.. etc..
- Direct Injury
- Symptoms
- Loss of functions
- Quadriplegia : affects the four limbs and the trunk and pelvic organs. damage from C1 to T1
- Paraplegia : affects the lower limbs. damager from T2 and below.
- Spinal shock
- occurs almost immediaterly after spinal cord injury
- There is a loss of voluntary motor control, sensory and autonomic function and spinal reflexes below the level of the lesion
- Whithin the first 24 hours and over the next several weeks(up to 8 weeks)
- Spasticity
- hypertonicity
- pain
- heterotopic osscification
- contractures
- decubitus ulcers
- deep vein thrombosis
- Autonomic dysreflexia
- Etc
- Loss of functions
- Massage treatment
- Be careful the risk of DVT, autonomic dysreflexia
- Gentle and slow massage techniques
- remedial exercise : stengthenig and stretching to prevent contracture and muscle weakness