Types of Paralysis

Quadriplegia

Quadriplegia results in total paralysis of the victim's torso, arms, and legs typically caused by a spinal cord injury to the area between the fifth and seventh vertebrae. Spastic quadriplegia is a birth defect also characterized by eyesight problems, convulsions, and mental retardation.

Quadriplegic patients require physical and psychological therapy in addition to assistance with various bodily functions managed by the nervous system. Various devises are available to help regulate breathing, body temperature, and waste removal. Children suffering from spastic quadriplegia commonly need permanent assistance with every aspect of their lives. Their degree of retardation is a good indication of how intelligent and independent they will become.

When a perfectly normal person suffers a traumatic injury that results in quadriplegia, they will often battle with depression due to the devastation associated with the unexpected loss of control over almost all bodily functions. Counseling is highly recommended to ease this transition for the patient. In some of the worst case scenarios, the patient and his/her family may agree to cut off life support. However, such a choice should not be made until after rehabilitation is finished, and everyone has been informed of the long-term outcome of the injury.

May quadriplegics still have the drive and ability to lead independent lives; about 150,000 people living in the US suffer from quadriplegia, and they are still able to get by on their own. Electric wheelchairs, joysticks, computers, and countless other instruments enable them to accomplish tasks that we take for granted but are essential to a modern livelihood. Generous groups like the National Easter Seals Society help victims and their families create wheelchair accessible living areas, while Helping Hands is a nonprofit organization that trains capuchin monkeys to aid quadriplegics with daily living tasks.

Paraplegia

Paraplegia is the paralysis of both legs and sometimes includes other parts of the body below the waist. This condition is caused by damaging the spinal cord, and the extent of paralysis directly correlates to the severity of the injury.

Partial paralysis allows for a little bit of feeling and mobility in the legs, whereas complete paralysis deprives the victim of all sensations and voluntary movement of the lower extremities. Injuries sustained by paraplegics are often low enough on the spinal cord that only the legs are paralyzed. However, if the injury site is further up the spinal cord, it may cause paralysis of the abdominal muscles, control loss bodily waste functions, and lack of ability to perform sexually in males. If the injury goes any higher to where the paralysis moves into the arms, paraplegia becomes quadriplegia.

In the US, there are approximately 5,200 new cases of paraplegia per year due to injuries that sever the spinal cord or are destructive to a significant number of its cells. Auto, motorcycle, and sports-related injuries are some of the major causes of paraplegia, while gunshot wounds also account for many instances of paralysis. Immediately following one of these accidents, victims assumed to have serious spinal cord injury should be dealt with very carefully and should not be touched or moved until paramedics arrive. Attempting to lift or roll someone with a suspected spinal injury may do considerably more damage if it is not done properly. As a result, only certified medical personnel should be allowed to move the victim while they are securely strapped to a backboard for transport via ambulance. If an unqualified individual take it upon themselves to move the patient, temporary paraplegia could become a case of permanent paraplegia. Even worse, it could turn paraplegia into an irreversible condition of quadriplegia.

Paraplegia is not only caused by injury; it can be:

A terrible side effect of diseases such as scoliosis.
Caused by spina bifida, a birth defect where at least one of the backbone's vertebrae never forms and exposes a small section of the spinal cord.
Due to a tumor that invades the spinal cord's space and interrupts its normal functions.

Sometimes, diseases can result in a condition of temporary paralysis that will vanish when the disease is overcome. Most of the time, the damage cannot be reversed because the disease's impact on the nerve cells in the spinal cord is too harmful.

Paraplegics require physical and occupational therapy as part of rehabilitation to improve sensory and motor skills and work on muscle memory so that they can potentially resume some normal activities and go back to work. Counseling patients to help them come to grips with their disability can be of great benefit as well.

Paraparesis

Similar to paraplegia, paraparesis is caused by damage to the spinal cord below the neck. Complete loss of lower body functions from an injury of this sort is considered paraplegia, but partial loss of range of motion and sensory ability is referred to as paraparesis. Since the spinal cord is not fully severed, victims of paraparesis can often walk under their own will with or without assistance.