What does this mean?
Spinal cord injury can deeper impact your relationships, security and future health. Spinal cord injury affects the way we live our lives. We cannot live a SPONTANEOUS life. We are always preoccupied worrying about health issues.
Spinal cord injuries are classified as either complete or incomplete. An incomplete injury means that the ability of the spinal cord to convey messages to or from the brain is not completely lost. People with incomplete injuries retain some motor or sensory function below the injury. A complete injury is indicated by a total lack of sensory and motor function below the level of injury. If the patient has the ability to contract the anal sphincter voluntarily or to feel a pinprick or touch around the anus, the injury is considered to be incomplete.
People who survive a spinal cord injury will most likely have medical complications:
- chronic pain;
- bladder and bowel dysfunction;
- sexual dysfunction;
- an increased susceptibility to respiratory and heart problems.
After Spinal cord injury, it is very common to experience dysfunction of the bowel and bladder, including infections of the bladder and anal incontinence. Often, people with a Spinal cord injury develop mental health problems as anxiety and depression.