Lecture 16 - Spinal Cord injuries

Question 1

When studying

Answer 1

1. What info traveling (ascending or descending)
2. Where it decussates
3. Where synapses are

Question 2

Spinal cord lesions

Answer 2

Central cord syndrome - cause by tumour and to central region of motor unit

Anterior cord syndrome - frontal of spinal cord, caused by car crash when going into steering wheel

Brown-Sequard syndrome-damage to one side of motor unit. Blunt forced trauma, Stabbing, shooting

Question 3

Important terms

Answer 3

Paraplegia = paralysis of lower body, when a section of a spinal cord is damaged

Hemiplegia: paralysis of only one side of the body, motor control loss (brown syn)

Tetraplegia (quadriplegia) = paralysis of all four limbs , cervical spine injury

Question 4

Brown-Sequard Syndrome, more in depth

Answer 4

Paralysis of one side

ipsilateral=motor control damage, lost on same side of lesion

contralateral=pain and tempature receptors affected and light touch (opposite side)

Dorsal horn injury= no sensory information

higher the injury the more affected

Maybe caused by spinal cord tumour

Ex: left side of neck damaged means left side loss of motor control and right side loss of temp/pain receptors

Question 5

Spinal infarcts

Answer 5

Aorta feeds branches into spinal cord

Hypesthesia = diminished sense of touch

where the spinal cord is damaged determines its symtology

Question 6

Diagnosis of SCI

Answer 6

Light touch score: Motor loss

Pin prick score: pain/temp

Strength testing

Question 7

Therapies for sci

Answer 7

Make individuals more independent in there movement

Before and After graphs

Before with spinal injuries, individuals are more spiratic in there spinal charts

After spinal reflexes more spaced out

This is because in normal humans they inhibit gamma motor neuron on flexor muscle