Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) About Spinal Cord Injuries

What is spinal cord injury?

Spinal cord injury (SCI) occurs when damage to the spinal cord results in loss of sensation and/or mobility. Someone can "break their neck or back" and not sustain SCI if, despite vertebrae (the bones around the spinal cord) being damaged, the spinal cord itself is not affected. The spinal cord, however, does not have to be severed for SCI to occur.

Bruising or swelling of the spinal cord can lead to catastrophic injury, including paralysis or paresis.

What causes spinal cord injury?

Common traumatic causes of SCI include the following:

Non-traumatic causes can include diseases such as cancer, arthritis, spins bifida, polio, etc.

What are the effects of spinal cord injury?

The effects of SCI depend on the level of the spinal cord in which the injury occurred, and the type of injury. The type of injury may be complete, which generally results in no voluntary movement, function or sensation below the level of the injury.

An incomplete injury results in some voluntary movement, function or sensation below the level of the injury, sometimes in some limbs or side of the body. Advances in acute SCI treatment are making complete injuries less common.

A lesion in the brain or one of the top eight (cervical) segments of the spinal cord may result in quadriplegia, which is characterized by at least partial paralysis in all four limbs.

Another condition sometimes resulting from incomplete SCI, or SCI in lower segments of the spinal cord is paraplegia, in which the lower half of the body, including the legs, are affected. Quadriplegia is slightly more common than paraplegia.

More information is available here: Spinal Cord Injury (SCI).

Is there a cure for spinal cord injury?

Unfortunately, no.  While there have been advances in medicine and research, such as certain steroid drugs, have shown success in reducing damage if administered shortly after the injury, there is currently no cure for SCI.

Do the conditions caused by spinal cord injury ever improve?

SCI often results in swelling of the spinal cord. Some function or sensation may be regained after the swelling subsides, especially in incomplete injuries. Some recovery has been noted as late as 18 months after the injury, and in rare cases as late as years after. Full recovery, however, is extremely rare.

If a loved one or I have suffered a spinal cord injury, do I need a lawyer?

The decision to hire a lawyer is an important one, and is yours to make.

Our personal injury attorneys may be able, through investigation, to establish liability for the injury, provide medical support to describe the suffering you or your loved one has gone through, and to make a full accounting of the pain, suffering and financial challenges you or you and your loved ones have endured and are likely to face.

If negligence caused your SCI, then compensation for your harms and losses, including medical bills, hospital bills, lost income, lost work opportunities, future therapy, and pain and suffering, may be recovered for you and your family.  Of course, this always depends on the facts of the case.

Contact our Law Firm today for a confidential assessment of your spinal cord injury claim.