As one of the most important—and sometimes underrated—parts of your body, your spinal cord is responsible for carrying nerve signals from your brain to each of your organs. These nerve signals control your breathing, digestion, heart rate, bowel and bladder function, and ability to move your extremities. This means that any injury to your spinal cord can have cascading consequences, many of which may not be immediately apparent. 

Below, we discuss some common types of spinal cord injuries, your treatment options, and what you should do if you’ve suffered a spinal cord injury due to another person’s negligent or reckless behavior.

What Is a Spinal Cord Injury?

The spinal cord is around 17 inches long and looks a bit like a thickly-wrapped electrical cable. But instead of wires, the spinal cord is filled with nerves that relay signals and sensations between the brain and every other part of your body. The spinal cord is surrounded by layers of tissue, called meninges, and wrapped by a column of donut-shaped bones, or vertebrae, for protection.

In most cases, a spinal cord injury occurs when there’s a sharp or sudden impact to the vertebrae. This can break the bone, sending it sideways into the spinal cord where it can bruise, damage, or even sever the nerves. Some of the most common causes of spinal cord injuries include:

• Vehicle accidents
• Slip-and-fall accidents
• Sports injuries
• Gunshot wounds
• Surgical complications
• Infections like meningitis
• Autoimmune disorders (like multiple sclerosis or lupus) that can inflame the spinal cord’s nerve cells

Some spinal cord injuries can be healed, while others—especially those involving severe trauma to the nerves—may be permanent.

Spinal Cord Injury Side Effects

When you sustain a spinal cord injury, the nerves below the location of impact may be affected. In other words, the nerves above the injury can still communicate with your brain unimpeded, but the nerves below this spot may have trouble communicating or even be entirely unresponsive.

This means that someone who suffers a spinal cord injury to the neck may be far more affected than someone who suffers an injury to the lower back, even if the latter injury is more serious. Neck, or cervical, injuries may involve the nerves responsible for regulating breathing and heart rate, while lower back injuries may involve the nerves responsible for lower extremity movement as well as bowel and bladder function. 

Some of the potential complications of a spinal cord injury include:

• Paralysis
• Disruption in your ability to regulate your breathing and heart rate
• Deep vein thrombosis (DVT), or potentially fatal blood clots
• Respiratory infections
• Urinary tract infections
• Impotence or other sexual dysfunction
• Inability to control one’s bladder or bowels, potentially leading to an ostomy or catheterization

Generally, the more severe the injury and the more nerves that are affected, the more likely someone is to suffer from multiple complications of a spinal cord injury.

Types of Spinal Cord Injuries 

There are two main types of spinal cord injuries: complete and incomplete.

• A complete spinal cord injury is one that causes a total loss of function, or paralysis, below the level of the injury. Complete spinal cord injuries affect both sides of the body equally. Any injury that severs the spinal cord is likely to be a complete injury.
• An incomplete spinal cord injury causes only a partial loss of sensation or function below the level of the injury. The body and brain may still be able to communicate along some pathways, allowing a greater chance of recovery.

Symptoms of Spinal Cord Injuries

Symptoms can range widely depending on the location of the injury and whether it’s complete or incomplete. If you’ve sustained a blow to the spine and begin to notice any of the below issues, it’s important to seek medical attention as soon as you can. 

• Persistent weakness or decreased sensation in your arms or legs
• Any changes in your ability to control your bowels or bladder
• Serious pain or a feeling of pressure in your neck or spine
• Any unusual lumps or bumps along your spine
• Trouble breathing or a feeling of “air hunger”

Fortunately, early treatment of spinal cord injuries can sometimes help minimize permanent damage.

How Spinal Cord Injuries Are Diagnosed

If you’re injured in an accident, emergency medical technicians will assess you to ensure that your breathing and heart rate haven’t been seriously affected by any injuries to your spine. They’ll also check your ability to move your limbs (unless another injury prevents this) and your ability to feel touch. 

In other situations, especially if you seek treatment after an injury, you may undergo one or more of the following diagnostic tests:

• An X-ray, which can show broken or dislocated bones. 
• A CT scan, which allows physicians to see any broken bones, blood vessel damage, or blood clots that could pose a risk.
• An MRI, which provides a view of the spinal cord and soft tissues surrounding it. 

Depending on what these imaging tests show, further tests may be ordered. 

Treatment Options for Spinal Cord Injuries

Treatment of a spinal cord injury can focus on both the short and the long term. 

Short-term treatments may include emergency decompression surgery, steroid injections, cooling beds, and other therapies designed to heal the spinal cord, reduce inflammation, and minimize any further damage. 

Long-term treatments will focus on learning to manage your spinal cord injury and reduce the risk of any potential complications. These can include:

• Learning to use assistive devices like a wheelchair, walker, or cane 
• Using physical therapy to regain strength and mobility and to retrain the brain to move your body
• Relearn and recover the skills you need to care for yourself independently, from bathing and toileting to dressing yourself or driving a car

Other Types of Spinal Cord Injuries

Contusions & Compressions

Contusions and compressions are the two most common types of spinal cord injuries; and while they may not sound as serious as a severed spinal cord or broken neck, they can pose just as much risk of severe or permanent dysfunction. 

• Spinal contusions bruise the spinal cord, causing bleeding and inflammation of nearby blood vessels. 
• Spinal compressions involve pressure on the spinal cord, often from a vertebral fracture or hematoma.

Both contusions and compressions can permanently disrupt the nerve pathways, and because the nerve cells in the spinal cord—unlike other cells in the body—can’t regenerate themselves if they’re damaged or destroyed, these relatively-harmless-sounding injuries can constitute a medical emergency.

Cauda Equina Syndrome

This condition, named for the “horse tail” of spinal nerve roots near the tailbone, is a more chronic or long-term spinal injury that can cause a cascade of symptoms. 

Cauda equina syndrome can result from compression to the nerve roots through a sudden injury, post-surgical complications, or even certain repetitive movements. Those suffering from cauda equina syndrome may experience serious sciatica pain, incontinence, weakness in the buttocks or thighs, or trouble walking. 

Although it may come on gradually, cauda equina syndrome requires immediate decompression treatment to prevent permanent damage. And a physician’s failure to diagnose this condition (or writing it off as typical sciatica pain) can constitute medical malpractice. 

What to Do If You’ve Suffered a Spinal Cord Injury

Contusions, compressions, and other spinal cord injuries can be devastating and affect just about every aspect of one’s daily life. It can be easy to underestimate the lifelong impact of these injuries, and insurance companies have a vested interest in settling as quickly and as cheaply as possible. Taking a settlement offer without seeking legal advice of your own could mean giving up funds you’ll need for future care.
If you’ve suffered a spinal injury as a result of someone else’s negligence, you have options. Contact the skilled attorneys at Breit Biniazan to set up a consultation to discuss your case and learn more about your legal options.

Spinal Cord Injuries (SCI) are devastating, causing physical pain, anguish, and a long road to recovery. Outside of the physical side effects, spinal cord injuries are also a huge financial burden. According to the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, SCI can cost upwards of $1 million in the first year alone. Costs only grow in the time that follows.

If you or a loved one are recovering from a spinal cord injury at no fault of your own, your focus should be on recovery, not on expenses. An experienced team of spinal cord injury attorneys may be able to help you receive compensation so that you can focus on what matters, getting your life back.

What is a Spinal Cord Injury?

Spinal cord injuries are usually the result of a sudden impact to the spine. They can affect all or part of the spine. When bone fragments or ligaments tear into the delicate tissue of the spinal cord, long-term damage occurs.

Some 17,500 Americans will sustain a spinal cord injury every year. Many of these injuries are the result of car accidents. Slip and falls, violence and abuse, sports activities, and medical malpractice also lead to spinal cord injuries every year.

Factors in Spinal Cord Injury Costs

The costs of a spinal cord injury can vary vastly based on your age and the type of spinal cord injury you sustain.

Age

Younger patients have greater recovery rates for spinal cord injuries. However, they face a longer lifetime of costs as a result of their SCI. These costs can rise into the several millions of dollars.

Severity of Injury

Depending on the severity of your spinal cord injury, you could face higher or lower costs. Less debilitating injuries require less medical and long-term care. More significant SCI that cause side effects like tetraplegia will cause more expenses, like rehab, medical equipment, and home modifications.

Spinal Cord Injury Expenses

Every spinal cord injury is unique and brings with it unique costs, like medical expenses and lost wages. While there’s no way to truly estimate the costs of your spinal cord injury, you can gain an understanding of the kind of expenses to expect.

SCI Medical Expenses

The most significant costs of spinal cord injuries are usually medical expenses. Medical procedures, rehabilitation and care could cost millions of dollars, depending on the severity of your injury. Common medical expenses SCI victims experience when they sustain their injury include:

• Emergency care, like ambulance or helicopter transportation
• Spinal surgery
• Trauma care, such as ventilators
• Long hospital stays, often in the Intensive Care Unit, the most expensive wing of the hospital
• Medical assessments from experts to determine your treatment plan

Long-term Medical & Rehab Care Expenses

Your initial medical treatment and stay can be costly. Those medical expenses often follow SCI patients long after they are released from the hospital. These costs can continue for the rest of your life, adding up to several millions of dollars.

• Rehab, which could include physical and occupational therapy, speech therapy, and mental health counseling
• Long-term care, including the costs of in-home aides
• Medical equipment, like wheelchairs, speaking devices, or respirators
• Home modifications, such as ramps, lifts, or elevators
• Medication, like painkillers, antibiotics, and medicine to prevent blood clots

Lost Wages & Future Earnings

While the physical toll of a spinal cord injury is significant, the loss of your ability to return to work is often just as devastating. From a financial perspective, the loss of employment can be both long-term and life-changing.

According to one study, one year after the date of their SCI, only 11.7 percent of those injured are employed. Even 20 years later, just 35.2 percent of people with spinal cord injuries have employment. Even when they are employed, the earning potential of those with SCI is below the national average.

Depending on the severity of your injury and the age at which it occurs, you could lose millions of dollars in lost wages over the course of your lifetime.

Pain & Suffering

Some costs, like medical expenses, are easy to measure. Others, like pain and suffering, are more difficult to analyze, but they are no less important or meaningful. The trauma you’ve experienced and the long road to recovery you face are both worthy of compensation. An experienced spinal cord injury attorney will take these costs into consideration.

Life Expectancy for Spinal Cord Injuries

Unfortunately, some 10 to 20 percent of those who experience spinal cord injuries do not survive long enough to make it to the hospital. Another 3 percent die during acute hospitalization.

After the initial injury and hospitalization, life expectancies shift a lot based on age and severity. According to one study, 40-year survival rates for those with tetraplegia were 47 percent and 62 percent for those with paraplegia.

If a family member or loved one wrongfully died as a result of a spinal cord injury, you may be entitled to compensation.

Receiving Compensation for a Spinal Cord Injury in Virginia

If you or a loved one are recovering from a spinal cord injury, the towering costs and the long road to recovery you face likely feel overwhelming. However, there is a solution.

Our spinal cord injury attorneys in Virginia Beach and Richmond work tirelessly to help victims of SCI secure a better future. By gathering evidence of wrongdoing and how that act led to your debilitating injury, we can prove to a court that you deserve to be compensated.

Spinal cord injury cases are complex and time-consuming, the team at Breit Biniazan will work on your behalf so you can focus on restoration. Contact us today to set up a free consultation regarding your spinal cord injury case.