Cervical Spinal Cord Injury – Overview

Transcript

The central nervous system is made up of the brain and the spinal cord. The brain lives within the skull and the spinal cord lives within the bony spinal column. In order to move the arms and legs, the patient generates the command from the brain, and this command must be conveyed to the spinal cord, which then activates the appropriate peripheral nerves to cause the legs or the arms to move in a functional way. The spinal cord is very much an elongated brain. It has all the capacity for the patient to walk almost independently from the command from the brain. The spinal cord itself provides all of the function to the extremities of the body. The arms and legs are controlled by the spinal cord after it receives a message from the brain to move them. The spinal cord serves as a reflex center. In fact, when you touch a hot plate and your arm withdraws and pulls away from that plate, all of that information is conveyed at the spinal cord level itself, even without your brain getting involved. Spinal cord is a very complex structure and it has processing of its own. When the spinal cord itself is injured, it can result in weakness. It can result in a change in those reflexes, or it can result in a complete paralysis. Both sensory and motor function are conveyed by the spinal cord. So an injury to the spinal cord will result in loss of sensation, decreased ability to move or complete paralysis.