Paraplegic Symptoms

A paraplegic is someone who has suffered paralysis or a loss of sensation of the lower half of his or her body. This includes an inability to move both legs and may affect part or all of their trunk muscles as well. Paraplegia has many causes including prenatal injury, birth injury, illness and accidents. Most paraplegics cannot walk and rely on wheelchairs as their main mode of transportation. There are therapies that can be used to treat paraplegia but there is no cure for this injury.

Cause

• Paraplegia is caused by an interruption in the neural pathways between the brain and the limbs. The spinal cord is a bundle of nerves that sends signals between the brain and body parts such as legs and arms. When these signals are unable to get through to the lower body because of injury a person may become a paraplegic.

Anatomy of the Spinal Cord

• The spinal cord is divided into 3 parts. There are 6 cervical nerves that run from the base of the skull to the neck. An injury to these nerves may leave someone a quadriplegic. Quadriplegics have difficulties moving their arms and hands as well as their lower torso and may have breathing difficulties as well. After the cervical nerves there are 12 nerves that make up the thoracic nerves. An injury to this area can result in paraplegia. There are also 5 lumbar and sacral nerves that reach to the lower back. An injury to this area may result in paraplegia as well.

Onset of Symptoms

• Symptoms of paraplegia may manifest suddenly or after a prolonged illness. A person may experience paraplegia as a result of car accident that severs the nerves of the spinal cord or the gradually after the growth of a tumor.

Symptoms

• Paraplegia symptoms include an inability to move, feel temperature, detect pain, urinary incontinence and involuntary seizures of muscle tissue. The patient may be able to feel pain but not the sensation of hot or cold. Patients may also be able to feel a limb but not move it. Certain diseases such as polio leave people with the ability to feel but the inability to walk. Someone who can feel their lower limbs but cannot move them is still considered a paraplegic.

Types of Injury

• Paraplegia may be divided into two forms: incomplete and complete. A case of incomplete paraplegia means the nerves were not full severed. A person may still be able to walk with the assistance of hand or elbow crutches and leg braces. People who experience an incomplete injury can recover full motion in their legs and eventually walk without assistance although they may still face nerve damage from original injury that may limit their range of motion. Someone with complete paraplegia has an injury that has complete severed the spinal cord. People with complete injuries are usually unable to walk and rely on wheelchairs to get around. They may have some limited movement in their legs but not enough strength to support their weight.