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Symptoms
By Mayo Clinic staff
Your ability to control your limbs after spinal cord injury depends on two factors: the neurological level of the injury and the completeness of injury. The lowest normally functioning segment of your spinal cord is referred to as the neurological level of your injury. The completeness of the injury is classified as either:
- Complete. If all sensory (feeling) and motor function (ability to control movement) is lost below the neurological level, your injury is called complete.
- Incomplete. If you have some motor or sensory function below the affected area, your injury is called incomplete.
Additionally, paralysis from a spinal cord injury may be referred to as:
- Tetraplegia or quadriplegia. This means your arms, trunk, legs and pelvic organs are all affected by your spinal cord injury.
- Paraplegia. This paralysis affects all or part of the trunk, legs and pelvic organs.
Your health care team will perform a series of tests to determine the neurological level and completeness of your injury.
Spinal cord injuries of any kind may result in one or more of the following signs and symptoms:
- Loss of movement
- Loss of sensation, including the ability to feel heat, cold and touch
- Loss of bowel or bladder control
- Exaggerated reflex activities or spasms
- Changes in sexual function, sexual sensitivity and fertility
- Pain or an intense stinging sensation caused by damage to the nerve fibers in your spinal cord
- Difficulty breathing, coughing or clearing secretions from your lungs
Emergency signs and symptoms
Emergency signs and symptoms of spinal cord injury after an accident may include:
- Extreme back pain or pressure in your neck, head or back
- Weakness, incoordination or paralysis in any part of your body
- Numbness, tingling or loss of sensation in your hands, fingers, feet or toes
- Loss of bladder or bowel control
- Difficulty with balance and walking
- Impaired breathing after injury
- An oddly positioned or twisted neck or back
When to see a doctor
A spinal cord injury isn't always obvious. Numbness or paralysis may result immediately after a spinal cord injury or gradually as bleeding or swelling occurs in or around the spinal cord. In either case, the time between injury and treatment can be a critical factor that can determine the extent of complications and the amount of recovery.
Anyone who has experienced significant trauma to the head or neck needs immediate medical evaluation for the possibility of a spinal cord injury. In fact, it's safest to assume that trauma victims have a spinal cord injury until proved otherwise.
If you suspect that someone has a back or neck injury, don't move the injured person. Permanent paralysis and other serious complications may result. Instead, take these steps:
- Call 911 or your local emergency medical assistance number.
- Keep the person still.
- Place heavy towels on both sides of the neck or hold the head and neck to prevent them from moving, until emergency care arrives.
- Provide basic first aid, such as stopping any bleeding and making the person comfortable, without moving the head or neck.
- Spinal cord injury: Hope through research. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/sci/detail_sci.htm. Accessed July 2, 2009.
- Spinal trauma. The Merck Manuals: The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals. http://www.merck.com/mmpe/print/sec21/ch311/ch311a.html. Accessed June 17, 2009.
- Spinal cord injury FAQ. American Association of Neurological Surgeons. http://www.neurosurgerytoday.org/media/fact/spinal.asp. Accessed July 2, 2009.
- Hansebout RR. Acute traumatic spinal cord injury. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed June 16, 2009.
- Mayer RS. Rehabilitation of individuals with cancer. In: Abeloff MD, et al. Abeloff's Clinical Oncology. Philadelphia, Pa.: Churchill Livingstone Elsevier; 2008. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/147442859-5/0/1709/1.html?tocnode=55014515&fromURL=1.html#4-u1.0-B978-0-443-06694-8..X5001-5--TOP_1. Accessed July 2, 2009.
- Spinal cord injury (SCI): Prevention tips. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/sciprevention.htm. Accessed July 2, 2009.
- Chiodo AE, et al. Spinal cord injury medicine: Long-term medical issues and health maintenance. Archives of Physical Medicine Rehabilitation. 2007;88:S76.
- Wuermser LA, et al. Spinal cord injury medicine: Acute care management of traumatic and nontraumatic injury. Archives of Physical Medicine Rehabilitation. 2007;88:S55.
- Beck LA (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Aug. 21, 2009.
- Facts and figures at a glance. National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center. http://www.spinalcord.uab.edu/show.asp?durki=119513&site=4716&return=19775. Accessed Aug. 25, 2009.
