Our supporter Gemma talks about living with spinal cord injury:
The spinal cord is the ‘information superhighway’ that enables communication between the brain and the rest of the body. It contains bundles of neurons [glossary term] that carry signals to and from the brain that control almost every function of our bodies.
All the information needed to initiate and control movement travels down the spinal cord from the brain to the muscles of the body. Signals from every part of the body also pass up the spinal cord. These signals relay sensory information (such as touch, pressure and heat) to the areas of the brain that deal with these sensations and our responses to them. After spinal cord injury, damaged neurons are unable to conduct signals and the injured person loses sensory information and muscle control.
The degree of paralysis resulting from spinal cord injury depends on which part of the spinal cord is injured. Injuries higher up (closer to the head) cause more paralysis than those lower down the cord.
Damage in the neck and shoulder area results in paralysis of both the arms and the legs (called tetraplegia or quadriplegia). People injured high up in this region cannot breathe without the help of a ventilator.
Injuries lower down the spinal cord cause loss of control of leg muscles (called paraplegia).
But spinal cord injury is about more than paralysis. Severing contact between the brain and other organs has further devastating and permanent consequences, such as loss of bladder and bowel control, loss of sexual function, and loss of the ability to control body temperature and blood pressure.
Repairing a damaged spinal cord is one of the most complex challenges that medical science has ever faced. In the past 15 years, scientists have made major breakthroughs in understanding how to encourage damaged neurons to regenerate. Spinal Research has played a fundamental role in developing several of these experimental treatments. These form the basis of the routes the 4 cm future.
It is vital now to move as quickly as possible to test these potential treatments in human patients. This will take place in studies called Clinical Trials [glossary term]. Spinal Research cannot give an exact date when Clinical Trials will start for these reasons: First we must do all we can to ensure that potential treatments are as safe and effective as possible; Second, doctors also need to develop sensitive techniques to measure how much improvement (if any) a treatment makes. Spinal Research is doing vital work to ensure that everything will be in place when it is time to start clinical trials.
