Potential Damages to Spinal Tissues from Cord Injuries

Although most types of back pain are caused by repeated lifts of light or medium heavy loads or by prolonged postures which overload the failure threshold of spinal tissues, a number of injuries are caused by traumatic falls or collisions. There are more than 10,000 spinal cord injuries in the country every year, with a large number of these occurring in automobile accidents. A significant number are also a result of violent encounters, falls, sports injuries, or incidents that happen at work.

Thus, a huge number of people are at risk of injuring their back, either through sub-failure loads placed on the connective tissues of the spine or by a traumatic injury. Fortunately, the large trauma injuries are the least common, but they can also be the most serious, leading to total or complete paralysis and related dysfunctions. A single fall or penetration wound impacting the spinal cord can cause numerous problems to the bones, ligaments, nerves, and discs that make up the back and neck.

Bone injuries are often related to dislocations of the spinal vertebrae or outright fractures. A subluxation may occur if the ligaments in one part of the spine become twisted, strained, or overly stretched, causing a misalignment in the bones. (Subluxations are the disorder that chiropractors treat through their chiropractic adjustments, which are meant to restore the proper alignment of the vertebrae.) If a dislocation or fracture affects vertebrae in the neck region, a person may experience symptoms similar to a stroke if arteries are damaged.

There are four main types of traumatic injuries affecting the spinal cord. Each one can have a different effect on the nerves, bones, and ligaments. The first is flexion injuries, which may cause fractures, dislocations, or subluxations. Second, rotational injuries can lead to dislocation. The third type, extension injuries, may cause fractures. And the fourth type of back trauma, called compression injuries, may fracture the vertebrae. A final related trauma, called cauda equina injury, involves the lower end of the spinal cord where the vertebrae meet the pelvis, but is not typically characterized as a spinal cord injury.

Depending on what has happened to the bone or connective tissues, doctors may be able to better understand the event that caused the injury to begin with. For example, if a person has a fall but can not remember what happened upon impact, different types of fractures or dislocations may point to a flexion injury or spinal compression. The type of damage that is manifested in the body may point to how the injury occurred, and each type may have different recovery paths available to the patient.

The good news is that a relatively small number of people will suffer from traumatic back damage every year. More people die in automobile accidents than suffer from spinal cord injuries on a yearly basis. But for people who do experience a fall, violent accident, or sports collision, injury to the spine and related tissues can be extremely debilitating and take a long time to recover from. A future article will discuss various symptoms that result from spinal cord damage.