The spinal cord is the nerve tissue that gives rise to spinal nerves. These nerves then connect the brain and the vertebral canal to the rest parts of the body.
Any kind of injury to the spinal cord can cause disruption to this connection. In turn, they can lead to defects in the sensory, motor, and reflex messages which will not let the individual function properly.
The major causes of this spinal cord injury include harm caused to the spine due to vehicle accidents, football injuries, falls, gymnastics, violence, or any unsupervised sports activities.
Different Types of Spinal Cord Injury
A spinal cord injury can be differentiated on the basis of two factors:
1. The extent of Loss of Connection: This consists of two types of injuries and that is:
Complete spinal cord injury is when there is a complete loss of connection between the brain and the spinal cord due to complete severance.
A spinal cord incomplete injury is when the injured person experiences some sensory activity at or around the injured area. The most common symptoms are found in the conditions like anterior cord syndrome, brown-Sequard syndrome and central cord syndrome.
2. Level of the Spinal Cord Injury: Now this will depend on the four levels and that is:
Cervical spinal cord injury
This involves loss of movement and function in all four limbs.
Thoracic spinal cord Injury
This is also called Paraplegia. It affects the legs, trunk, and pelvis region. Here there is a loss of sensation in the middle to lower half of the body.
Lumbar & Sacral spinal cord injury
This injury can lead to some extent to loss of bowel and bladder function, lower limb function (hips & legs) or even sexual function. They may be able to walk but might be having some functional loss.
Treatment for Spinal Cord Injury
The current treatment for spinal cord injury includes limited administration of high-dose steroids that can prevent cord edema and can reduce the chances of getting any secondary inflammatory response.
However, one of the safest treatments found for treating this spinal cord injury is the Stem cell treatment.
In this treatment, mesenchymal stem cells from the patient’s body are injected into the spinal area, which will cause damage to the neurons, reduce the inflammation and limit the overall functioning of the patient’s auto-immune response.
You can get in touch with a good Stem cell treatment clinic nearby and gather some more information on this treatment.
The benefits from these mesenchymal stem cells can vary from patient to patient depending on various factors like age factor, medical history, the level of damage, and several other factors.
But this treatment has definitely shown the highest efficacy in treating this condition.
Possible improvements After the Treatment
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Recent studies have shown that Stem cell treatment has shown functional recovery in individuals after Spinal Cord Injury (SPI).
This includes:
- Improved sensation and motor function
- Improvement in balance and coordination
- Improved muscle mass and strength
- Bowel and control
- Improvement in neuropathic pain
- Reduced spasticity and many more
The advancement of this stem cell therapy has changed the situation of such patients with SCI. They can now get back to their routine rather than having that bedridden life.