Health Issues and Spinal Injuries

Some spinal injury symptoms are immediately obvious such as partial or complete paralysis. Other obvious injury symptoms include extreme pain, loss of bowel or bladder control, breathing difficulties, spasms and problems walking. You might lose sensation in certain areas or no longer feel cold or heat.

Spine injuries affect the nervous system that transmits orders from the brain to the limbs and torso, and an injury’s severity is classified as complete or incomplete. An incomplete spinal injury describes partial damage to motor or sensory functions below the affected area where the nerves join the spinal cord. Complete spinal damage results in loss of all movement and sensation below the injured area.

Spinal injuries could affect your breathing, digestion, heartbeat and many other metabolic functions, so identifying a spine injury could be critical to life and health. Not all soft-tissue injuries show up right away, and you could get various symptoms months after an injury. These symptoms include:

• Sexual dysfunction
• Peripheral neuropathy or nerve damage (pain, tingling or numbness)
• Joint pain
• Minor-to-severe pain in the back, neck, arms, shoulders and legs
• Blood clots and other circulatory problems
• Pressure sores
• Obesity
• Spasticity
• Urinary infections

Tests To Take After An Injury

You should get tested as soon as possible after a spinal injury or if you suspect that a previous injury or cumulative stress is causing a spinal problem. Some spinal injuries are difficult to diagnose, but the following three tests can help to narrow the causes of pain and symptoms:

1. Imaging Tests

Imaging tests for spinal injuries include X-rays, MRIs and CAT scans. X-rays use radioactive materials that pass through soft tissues and leave images of bone structures on photographic negatives. Doctors can view fractures, breaks and damage to the vertebrae in the spinal column that protects the spinal cord. An MRI or magnetic resonance imaging gives a more detailed image of the soft tissues to verify spinal compression, bruising, herniated discs and other injuries. CAT or computer-assisted tomography scans offer some of the features of both MRIs and X-rays by giving cross-sectional images of both soft tissues and bones.

2. Nerve Conduction Velocity Test

This electrical test detects abnormal nerve signals that spinal injuries might cause and helps physicians evaluate conditions like numbness or an inability to feel heat or cold. The doctor stimulates nerves along the path that nerve impulses must travel from the affected area to the brain. Electrodes record the strength of the electrical pulses, and areas where the signal speed decreases could be suffering nerve damage or be caused by a spinal injury.

3. American Spinal Injury Association Exam

This exam covers the whole body to test strength, sensation and the peripheral and secondary symptoms of injuries that don’t show up readily in imaging scans. This exam includes an exhaustive array of tests of muscular functions and sensations in various areas of the body.

The first three months after spinal injuries are critical for identifying problems and beginning a course of treatment to maximize your chances of making the fullest recovery possible. Getting the standard diagnostic tests that ER physicians perform after injuries could diagnose primary injuries, but understand that some spinal injuries don’t show up on X-rays, MRIs and CAT scans. Even minor injuries could generate lifelong symptoms, pain and weaknesses, so people should get tested after an injury and again if symptoms start to show at a later date.

Resources:

1) Mayo Clinic: Spinal cord injury

2) Medicine.net: Spinal Cord Injury

3) Mayo Clinic: Spinal cord injury: Tests and diagnosis

4) The New York Times: Spinal Cord Trauma

5) John Hopkins: Nerve Conduction Study (NCS)

6) UPMC.com: Testing Spinal Cord Injuries: The ASIA Exam