What happens if you damage your spine?
Injuries to the spinal cord can cause weakness or complete loss of muscle function and loss of sensation in the body below the level of injury, loss of control of the bowels and bladder, and loss of normal sexual function.
How do you treat an injured spine?
- Medications. Intravenous (IV) methylprednisolone (Solu-Medrol) has been used as a treatment option for an acute spinal cord injury in the past.
- Immobilization. You may need traction to stabilize your spine, to bring the spine into proper alignment or both.
- Surgery.
- Experimental treatments.
How long does a bruised spine take to heal?
Most bone bruises will heal after 4-8 weeks of conservative treatment. If symptoms don’t get better, or they get worse, contact your spine specialist because you may be dealing with a more severe bruise, and if it’s not getting healthy blood flow, it can actually lead to permanent bone damage.
What are the symptoms of spinal shock?
In spinal shock, there is a transient increase in blood pressure due to the release of catecholamines. This is followed by a state of hypotension, flaccid paralysis, urinary retention, and fecal incontinence. The symptoms of spinal shock may last a few hours to several days/weeks.
What are the complications of spinal injury?
Medical Complications in Spinal Cord Injury
- 1 Introduction.
- 2 Autonomic Dysfunction. 2.1 Spinal Shock.
- 3 Cardiovascular Dysfunction. 3.1 Deep Vein Thrombosis and Pulmonary Embolism.
- 4 Respiratory Dysfunction.
- 5 Gastrointestinal Dysfunction.
- 6 Urological Dysfunction.
- 7 Sexual Dysfunction.
- 8 Bone Metabolism Dysfunction.
Can you walk again if your spinal cord is severed?
With this type of injury, all sensation and ability to move are lost below the harmed area. Unfortunately, while there are no guarantees as to what the eventual outcome will be, there is currently no known cure for a completely severed cord.
