Spinal Cord Injury SCI

Spinal cord injuries cause myelopathy or damage to nerve roots or myelinated fiber tracts that carry signals to and from the brain. Depending on its classification and severity, this type of traumatic injury could also damage the gray matter in the central part of the cord, causing segmental losses of interneurons and motorneurons. Spinal cord injury can occur from many causes, trauma, car accident, slip and fall, diving accident, truck accident, and motorcycle accident.

The American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) defined an international classification based on neurological responses, touch and pinprick sensations tested in each dermatome , and strength of ten key muscles on each side of the body, i.e. shoulder shrug (C4 ), elbow flexion (C5 ), wrist extension (C6 ), elbow extension (C7 ), hip flexion (L2 ).

Traumatic spinal cord injury is classified into five categories by the American Spinal Injury Association and the International Spinal Cord Injury Classification System:

A indicates a "complete" spinal cord injury where no motor or sensory function is preserved in the sacral segments S4-S5.
B indicates an "incomplete" spinal cord injury where sensory but not motor function is preserved below the neurological level and includes the sacral segments S4-S5. This is typically a transient phase and if the person recovers any motor function below the neurological level, that person essentially becomes a motor incomplete, i.e. ASIA C or D.
C indicates an "incomplete" spinal cord injury where motor function is preserved below the neurological level and more than half of key muscles below the neurological level have a muscle grade of less than 3, which indicates active movement with full range of motion against gravity.
D indicates an "incomplete" spinal cord injury where motor function is preserved below the neurological level and at least half of the key muscles below the neurological level have a muscle grade of 3 or more.
E indicates "normal" where motor and sensory scores are normal. Note that it is possible to have spinal cord injury and neurological deficits with completely normal motor and sensory scores.

In addition, there are several clinical syndromes associated with incomplete spinal cord injuries.

In the U.S., there are currently 1.3 million individuals living with spinal cord injuries- a number five times that previously estimated in 2007. 61% of spinal cord injuries occur in males, and 39% in females. The average age for spinal cord injuries is 48 years old. There are many causes leading to spinal cord injuries. These include motor vehicle accidents (24%), work-related accidents (28%), sporting/recreation accidents (16%), and falls (9%).