SPINAL CORD INJURIES 

When there’s been an accident, few outcomes are scarier than potential spinal cord injuries.

Spinal injuries are some of the leading causes of disability in the United States. Every year, there are an estimated 12,000 new spinal injuries – not including the number of people who die at the scene of the accident due to spinal cord injuries.

Not all of these 12,000 injuries are extremely serious or even permanent, but even so, there are over 255,000 Americans who currently live with spinal cord injuries – and many of them are completely debilitating.

That’s the real danger of not getting treated for spinal cord injuries after an accident: if left untreated, the injury can progress to partial or complete paralysis, which, needless to say, can be a catastrophic blow to your quality of life.

No one wants to be paralyzed. Getting treated if you have been injured in an accident is of the utmost importance and should happen without delay.

Spinal Injury Symptoms

If you’ve been in an accident, what symptoms do you need to look out for when it comes to your spinal cord?

The first obvious sign that something is wrong is if you get acute, sharp pain anywhere in your neck or back. This is usually the case with whiplash. A lot of people downplay whiplash, thinking it’s annoying at worst and just a painful inconvenience. That’s not true, though – whiplash can be severe and debilitating and can actually be a sign of a serious neck injury.

Whiplash refers to tearing muscles and tendons in your neck and upper back after a severe change in motion in your head and neck, usually from a car accident. But the same forces that cause whiplash can also cause damage to the nerves and vertebrae of your spinal cord.

You should be cautious and seek treatment if you experience the following after an accident:

• Pain in your neck when moving your head from side to side or forward and backward
• Decreased range of motion in your neck
• Tightness and knots in your neck
• Stiffness and tenderness from your shoulders up
• Sharp, stabbing pain whenever you move your head
• Headaches at the base of your skull that radiate throughout your head

There are other symptoms of spinal cord injuries, including:

• Tingling in your limbs or extremities (fingers and toes)
• Numbness or complete loss of feeling
• Sharp, stabbing pain in your back
• Immobility in your limbs
• Paralysis
• Loss of bladder or bowel control
• Intense stinging or burning sensation
• Difficulty breathing
• Difficulty walking or moving
• A twisted back or neck

If you notice these symptoms, you should seek immediate emergency treatment. If any of these symptoms develop over the next 24-72 hours, you should seek immediate emergency treatment.

Even if you don’t notice anything serious at first, go see a doctor as soon as possible after an accident to get checked out. Sometimes it takes an x-ray or MRI to notice damage.