Spinal Cord Injury
Spinal cord injury (SCI) damages neural pathways between brain and body. Effects depend on lesion level and completeness and may involve movement, sensation, breathing, bladder, bowel, sexual and blood-pressure control.
Key points
- New weakness or sensory loss after trauma is a spinal emergency; keep the person still and call emergency services.
- Established SCI care includes rehabilitation, skin protection, bladder and bowel plans, clot prevention, respiratory care and pain or spasticity management.
- Spasticity can protect positioning in some situations or impair care in others; treatment goals should be functional rather than simply reducing tone.
Catalogue matches do not define acute SCI treatment or indicate a safe antispasticity or pain regimen.
What influences long-term function?
Neurological level and preserved pathways are central, but complications and rehabilitation also matter. Pressure injury, infection, contracture, neuropathic pain and reduced bone strength can affect independence and require multidisciplinary follow-up.
How is spasticity approached?
Clinicians first look for triggers such as a full bladder, constipation, wound or infection. Stretching, positioning and therapy may be combined with baclofen or another option. Baclofen can cause weakness or sedation and must not be stopped abruptly.
When to seek urgent care
Seek emergency care for new loss of movement or sensation, breathing difficulty, or autonomic dysreflexia: sudden pounding headache, sweating or flushing with very high blood pressure, especially after injury above the mid-chest.