Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • Free Essays • My Term Papers • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Science spinal cord injuries spinal cord injuries Spinal cord injuries can be very devastating. First we will discuss the spinal cord’s structure and function. Then we will tell you how the spinal cord is most commonly injured, along with some statistics involved and some signs of spinal cord injury. We will explain some changes to the body after spinal injuries. Finally we will talk about some of the research in helping spinal cord injury victims. The spinal cord is the final common pathway from the brain to the muscles. It controls all the sensory inputs received from different locations throughout the body. The spinal cord also controls voluntary muscle responses. Some elementary reflexes are local to the spinal cord, but voluntary muscle control requires the brain as do sensory perceptions. The cells that mediate all functions are nerve cells or neurons.(Spinal Cord- http://anatomy.uams.edu/HTMLpages/anatomyhtml/pp_spinal html) The spinal cord includes nerve cells and axon. Axons carry signals downward from the brain and upward toward the brain. The spinal cord is composed of “white matter” which is myelinated, and since the spinal cord is part of the central nervous system the myelin is produced by oligodendrocytes. The spinal cord also has “gray matter”, which is cell bodies, and is the part of the spinal cord that looks like a butterfly. Meninges (membranes) protect the spinal cord. There are three layers; the dura mater, which is the tougher, outermost layer, the arachnoid mater; it is the delicate, middle layer, and the pia mater is the innermost layer.(The American Medical Association family medical guide-Random House, Inc. New York, 1987) The spinal cord runs through a chain of boney rings known as vertebrae. This vertebral column protects the spinal cord which act like a telephone cable sending messages of feeling and sensation to the brain which converts them into responses such as movement.(What is a Spinal Cord Injuryhttp://www.neurosurgery .org.8089/pubpages/patres/faq spine.html) The spinal cord is made up of segments that control different regions of the body. Nerves from each segment of the spinal cord connect to specific regions of the body. The cervical region or neck are referred to as C1 through C8; they control signals to the neck, arms, and hands. The segments in thoracic or upper back region T1 through T12 relay signals to the torso and some parts of the arms. The segments in the upper lumbar or mid-back region just below the ribs, L1 through L5, control signals to the hips and legs. Last, the sacral segments S1 through S5 lie just below the lumbar segments in the mid-back and control signals to the groin, toes, and some parts of the legs. The effects of spinal cord injury at different segments reflect this organization.(SC-Basic Anatomy of Spine-http://www.goes.com/billr/html/_anatomy_of_a_spinal_cord.html) Injuries to the spinal cord may be caused indirectly, as by a blow to the head or a fall; by traffic accidents, sports injuries, or violence. The consequences depend on the amount of damage the cord sustains and where the damage occurs. Although spinal injuries are only a small fraction of all injuries; accidents cause an estimated 10,000 spinal cord injuries each year. Each year, more than two million Americans suffer a head or spinal injury; most are males between the ages of 15 and 30. Motor vehicle crashes cause about half of those.(Community First Aid and Safety-Mosby Lifeline, St. Louis, 1993) 200,000 Americans live day-to-day with disabling effects of such traumas. The area of the body affected depends on the location of the damage to the spinal cord. There may be numbness and weakness, or paralysis of all muscles below the level of the injury, including those that control your bowels and bladder. Sometimes muscles on only one side of the body are affected. Pain is not always a symptom of injury to the spinal cord, but injury to nearby nerves sometimes causes sever pain. Unlike the symptoms of certain types of brain injury, which may become apparent only after some time has passed, symptoms of spinal cord damage almost always appear immediately after the injury that causes them.(The American Medical Association family medical guide-Random House,Inc., New York, 1987) There are anatomical and functional changes after injury. The types of disability associated with spinal injury vary greatly depending on the severity of the injury; the segment of the spinal cord at which the injury occurs, and which nerve fibers are damaged. In spinal cord injury, the destruction of nerve fibers that carry motor signals from the brain to the torso and limbs leads to muscle paralysis. Destruction of sensory nerve fibers can lead to loss of sensations such as touch, pressure, and temperature; it sometimes also causes pain. Other serious consequences can include exaggerated reflexes; loss of bladder and bowel control; sexual dysfunction; lost or decreased breathing capacity; impaired cough reflexes; and spasticity(abnormallly strong muscle contractions). Most people with spinal cord injury regain some functions between a week and six months after injury, but the likeihood of spontaneous recovery diminishes after six months. Rehabilitation strategies can minimize the long-term disability.(Community First Aid and Safety-Mosby Lifeline, St. Louis, 1993) Normal spinal reflexes depends on two-way communication between the spinal cord and the brain. Injuring nerve pathways depresses the cord’s reflex activities in sites below the injury. At the same time, sensations and muscular tone in parts of the affected fibers innervate lessen. This condition is called spinal shock; it may last for days or weeks. Eventually normal reflex activity may return, but if nerve fibers are severed, some of the cord’s functions are likely to be permenantly lost.(The American Medical Association family medical guide-Random House, Inc. New York, 1987) Paralysis is caused by injury or diease to the spinal cord and the degree of paralysis depends upon level of injury. An injury to the spinal cord can result in partial or total paralysis of two or four extremities, as well as loss of sensation. Many persons with a spinal cord injury still feel some sensation in the paralyzed parts of their body, or have some control of muscles below the level of injury. This will often occur in the case of an incomplete injury where the spinal cord has been mashed or partially damaged from swelling and bruising. Paraplegia is the paralysis of the lower extrmities and part of or all of the trunk muscles. Usually there is a loss of sensation in paralyzed limbs and other effects such as muscle spasms, pain and loss of bladder and bowel control. Paraplegia occurs when there is and impairment at or below the T1 throacic level. Quadriplegia occurs when there is damage to the spinal cord in the Cervical region. This will cause impairment to the hands and arms in addition to the effects of paraplegia.(Spinal Injurieshttp://rehab.edu.ucalgary.ca/courses/ assignments/ edps475/p62029/index html) Tetraplegia results from a broken neck, it also affects the arms and hands. Fractures or compression of the vertebrae which cause permanent damage to the cord may lead to loss of sensation, movement, bladder and bowel control, as well as affecting sexual function.(What Is Spinal Injury-http://www.neurosurgery .org.8089/pubpages/patres/faq spine.html) It is impearative that a spinal injury victim is treated within the first eight hours after the injury. Methylprednisolone is a steroid, and has become standard treatment for acute spinal cord injury since 1990; when a large-scale clinical trial showed significantly better recovery in patients who began treatment with this drug within the first eight hours. Methylprednisolone reduces the damage to cellular membranes that contribute to neuronal damage. Preventing this damage helps spare some nerve fibers that would otherwise be lost, improving the patient’s recovery. Another method is being experimented with, and that is neural protheses. It is possible, one day, that doctors will be able to help spinal cords to regrow their connections, but for now there is another approach to compensate for lost function by using neural protheses to circumvent the damage. These sophisticated electrical and mechanical devices connect with the nervous system to supplement or replace lost motor and sensory functions. The first neural prostheses for spinal cord injured patients are now being tested in humans. The United States Food and DrugAdministration(FDA) recently approved one device, a prosthesis that allows rudimentary hand control. This prothesis has been experimentally implanted in more than 60 people. Patients control the device using shoulder muscles. With training, most patients with this device can open and close their hand in two different ways. These simple movements allow the patients to perform many activities of daily life that they would otherwise be unable to perform. Rehabilitation techniques can greatly improve patients’ health and quality of life by helping them learn to use their remaining abilities. Studies of problems that spinal cord injury patients experience, such as spasticity, muscle weakness, and impaired motor coordination, are leading to new strategies that may overcome these challenges. As they gain a better understanding of what causes these problems, physicians are learning how to treat them; sometimes using drugs already available for other health problems. (What is a spinal injury?http://www.neurosurgery.org.8089/pubpages/patres/faq spine.html.) The spinal cord is a very complex and much needed structure. If injured in a sports activity, car accident, or by violence the affects can be devastating and life threatening. The symptoms of a spinal cord injury are easily recognized if you are paying attention. The body can experience many changes due to a spinal cord injury. The changes mostly depend on and where the spinal cord is injured and how severe the damage is to the spinal cord. Conclusion therapies for spinal cord injury have improved substantially in the last few years. Drugs for treatment of acute injury, neural prostheses , and advanced rehabilitation strategies are improving the survival and quality of life for many patients. 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