Spinal Cord Injury

With approximately 12,000 new cases of spinal cord injury (SCI) each year with roughly 259,000 persons living with a traumatic SCI in the US, rehabilitation treatment plans must be individualized based on other factors such as age, co-morbidities, body habitus and level of motivation. It is also imperative to assess and manage the various affected systems. Muscle paralysis is often the most recognized sequela arising from SCI but other common complications include neuropathic pain, spasticity, heterotropic ossification, orthostatic hypotension, autonomic dysreflexia, DVT, CAD, atelectasis, pressure ulcers, depression, neurogenic bladder and bowel dysfunction, and in males neurogenic impotence and infertility.

The multisystem involvement of SCI makes the rehabilitation of these patient one that requires a comprehensive and multidisciplinary team approach, aimed at maximizing not only functional outcomes but also neurological recovery. Whatever the future in SCI holds we now know that people with SCI can live a happy and fulfilling life within the constrains of their impairments. With a collaborative effort of specialty physicians and a comprehensive rehabilitation program, the SCI patient stands to gain a more favorable outcome for achieving optimal clinical goals.