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Home » Consumer Information » Spinal Cord Injuries

Spinal Cord Injury Side Effects

When someone suffers a spinal cord injury, the spinal cord often swells up. This added pressure on the nerves alters just about every bodily function. Depending on the severity of the injury, the inflammation may subside in a few days, or it may take weeks. Once this happens, the victim may exhibit various signs of normalcy and regain some functionality. With partial spinal cord injuries in particular, the victim may gradually become increasingly mobile over the course of many months. In extremely remarkable cases, some spinal cord injury victims could even continue developing years later. Only a diminutive sample of people ever fully recovers from a spinal cord injury.

The effects of a spinal cord injury are dependent upon the type of injury and what section of the spine is damaged. There are two variations of spinal cord injuries: partial and complete. There is still some functionality of limbs below the site of a partial injury. The victim may have better range of motion in one leg than the other, be able to receive sensations to body parts that do not move, or demonstrate a greater amount of activity on one side of the body as opposed to the other (much like a stroke victim). A complete injury is worse because the victim shows no signs of muscle response at any body part below the injured area. Both sides of the body are equally affected.

In addition to loss of feeling and mobility, victims of spinal cord injury will realize an abundance of other changes. A very common one is the inability to control urination and bowel movements. The ability to become sexually aroused happens irregularly or not at all. Men may become sterile, but women usually remain fertile. If damage occurs near the top of the spinal cord, some of the body's automatic mechanisms such as breathing may come to a halt. This requires use of a breathing assistant such as a ventilator. Other well-documented effects of a spinal cord injury consist of low blood pressure, improper blood pressure regulation, poor body temperature control, sweat gland failure, and persistent pain. Although some of these may not sound life-threatening, fluctuations in blood pressure or body temperature can result in death.