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Mohammad Madmouj

Professor Cassel

English Composition II

12/9/2017

Whats important to know about spinal cord injuries?

Want to know the most painful injuries a person can have? A spinal cord injury. When I

was a sophomore in high school a kid pushed me off a six-foot box and I plummeted to the

ground fracturing and crushing my T12 bone which is part of the spinal cord. I had no idea I

fractured my spine at the time because I didnt know what breaking your spine felt like. I thought

I just badly hurt my back muscles until I rode the bus home and got in bed and couldnt move at

all. Thats when my brother called the ambulance for me and they took x-rays of my to find out

that I had a spinal cord injury. I had to go through a 12-hour surgery and be in the hospital for 1

month. What I didnt expect was how hard its going to be post surgery. I wore a back brace for

over a year and may still need to wear it because my spine hurts for just sitting for an hour. I

cant pick up objects that are over 50 pounds, I wont be able to play sports anymore or workout

and gain muscles for my body the traditional way by lifting weights. My endurance for activities

is very low I get tired very fast. After the surgery I felt very depressed and thought I should've

died but I was grateful because I wasnt paralyzed. I felt depressed for over a year because I

couldnt leave my bed. I just laid there to recover under heavy medication. I did have a physical

therapist who came to my house to do some stretches and some walking but it was very hard to

do.Thus, people who suffer from spinal cord injuries need to do more than just recover

physically. They also need to recover from the psychological issues related to the injury and
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learn about the various therapies that are available including aqua-therapy, seated-therapy, and

yoga so that they can make better decisions about how to move forward.

Spinal cord injury happen when there is any damage to the spinal cord that blocks

communication between the brain and the body. After a spinal cord injury, a persons sensory,

motor and reflex messages are affected and may not be able to get past the damage in the spinal

cord. In general, the higher on the spinal cord the injury occurs, the more dysfunction the person

will experience. Injuries are referred to as complete or incomplete, based on whether any

movement and sensation occurs at or below the level of injury.(Reeve) The most valuable and

sometimes frustrating thing to know is that each persons recovery from spinal cord injury is

different. Most frequent causes of traumatic injuries include Motor vehicle accidents, football,

falls, gymnastics, violence, and diving into shallow water. Spinal cord injuries affect more men

than women. The majority of people who sustain a spinal cord injury are young adults between

the ages of 16 and 30 because of riskier behaviors. Some non-traumatic injuries/illnesses include

cancer osteoporosis, multiple sclerosis, inflammation of the spinal cord, arthritis.(Fitnews) There

are so many horrible effects of spinal cord injuries that may include loss of movement, loss of

feeling, loss of bowel and/or bladder control, exaggerated reflex actions or spasms, changes in
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sexual function, sexual sensitivity and fertility, and pain or intense stinging sensations.

Fig. 1. Spinal injuries due to falls (Hecht)

First, psychological issues are very common occurrences when a spinal injury or any

injury happens. Adjusting to a disability is a lifelong process. Not everyone acts the identically to
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the same injury and its important to remember that. When someone is first injured, adjustment

focuses on dealing with the loss and learning all about the injury. As someone accepts, learns,

and masters the new disability, you can start to normalize them into daily life. This typically

happens after someone is released from the hospital from a spinal cord injury. Going into the

real world can be scary since you cant do the same things youve always done. The goals are

to care for yourself in a way that is as independent as your disability allows, and to begin the

process of building a life that is not just focused around the disability. (Simpson) Seeing a

therapist is highly recommended and going to a spinal cord injury peer support. Controlling your

mentality is the first most important step because without conquering your mind, you will be

conquered by fear. Some people may actually benefit more from antidepressants than seeing a

psychiatrist. Always try and engage in other interests and activities because you can quickly

become isolated. Boredom is very common because most of the time all you do is just lay in bed

and at times may lead to suicidal thoughts. Thus because of all this it is essential a person with a

spinal cord injury makes sure to have guidance from their rehabilitation doctor to guide them

through their injury.

Next, psychological issues arent the only problem people with spinal cord injuries have

to go through, but also finding the correct therapies that are available. Aqua therapy can be a

very useful means for training to walk and exercise. Getting a spinal cord injury could lead to a

lot of blood clots because of not being able to move without falling. A therapeutic pool is an

excellent place to challenge a patient, as the therapist can be really aggressive with very small

risk of a fall related injury. Aqua therapy is one of the best starts to moving again because of the

lack of injury that can occur when training. After aqua therapy their are higher tech devices such

as overground or over-treadmill body weight supports devices. They can give less physical help
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and further challenge balance, which is an important part of progression for regaining the way

you move and walk.

Fig 2 Over treadmill body weight training with therapist.(Adult litegait)

Aqua therapy can be the first step for training yourself for the better, but also seated

therapy can be very beneficial in the same way. Anyone can get an incredible workout in a

wheelchair. Focusing your upper body helps maintain a much healthier posture and can help

keep your endurance higher for not always laying down. Getting a better posture always prevents

a lot less pain for someone's spine and not getting a hunched back. Even if you can move your

lower body slightly means you can actually slowly work towards more muscle control and
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strength for walking. Seated therapy classes are specifically targeted to spinal cord injury

survivors that suffer from minimal to no movement for the lower body.

Yoga is something, not a lot of people, would consider for a spinal cord injury, but it

actually improves chances of reducing depression, anxiety, and makes you stronger. Yoga

encourages healthy breathing patterns because of the gentle stretching. Targeting specific

muscles and coordinate your movements with your breath. (Villines) This personally is a very

cool idea to help with breathing because when I had my spinal cord injury I had a lot of problems

with breathing and shortness of breath. Also being stuck in bed all day made me wish I could go

out and interact with others doing the same activity.

As mentioned earlier, people who suffer from spinal cord injuries need to do more than

just recover physically. They also need to learn about the various therapies such as aqua therapy,

seated therapy and yoga. Psychological issues to me are the most important step to recovering so

you can be in the right state of mind and not depressed. Nobody expects how hard it can be

recovering post surgery of a spinal cord injury and finding the right methods for you is a

journey.There are so many different bits of information for you vertebrae that they are grouped

into sections. The higher the injury on the spinal cord, the more dysfunction can occur. Spine

injuries can affect you mentally drastically as well. Some people could have the same exact

injury but one my need, a brace for their back and the other wont. Its one of the scariest and

hardest things someone can go through and taking every bit of caution and listening to your

doctor is 100% needed.

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Works Cited

"Promising Movement After Severe Spinal Cord Injury." Running & Fitnews, vol. 32, no.

2, Mar/Apr2014, pp. 2-3. EBSCOhost, doi:brain/awu038.

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Simpson, Kristina. "Promoting Motor Recovery After Spinal Cord Injury." Rehab

Management: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Rehabilitation, vol. 29, no. 1,

Jan/Feb2016, pp. 24-29. EBSCOhost,

sinclair.ohionet.org:80/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&

db=s3h&AN=112809055&site=eds-live.

Reeve, Christopher. Understanding Spinal Cord Injury. Understanding Spinal Cord

Injury, Shepherd Center, 2 Nov. 2017, www.spinalinjury101.org/.

Villines, Zawn. 6 Exercises for After a Spinal Cord Injury. Spinal Cord Injury & Brain Injury

Resource Center, www.spinalcord.com/blog/6-exercises-for-after-a-spinal-cord-injury.

Psychosocial Issues of Spinal Cord Injury, www.upmc.com/Services/rehab/rehab-

institute/conditions/spinal-cord-injury/education-spinal-injury/Pages/psychological-

issues.aspx.

Spinal Injuries Due To Falls | Spine Injury Resource Center. Hecht, Kleeger & Damashek,

P.C., lawyer1.com/spinal-cord-injury-center/causes-spine-injury/spine-injuries-caused-

by-falls/.

Adult LiteGait. Adult LiteGait | LiteGait.Com, www.litegait.com/products/overview/Adult-

LiteGait-Overview.
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Physiotherapy rehabilitation for people with spinal cord injuries. Journal of Physiotherapy,

Elsevier, 12 Dec. 2015,

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1836955315001307#bib0430.