Spinal Cord Injuries Flashcards
What is spinal shock
physiological response to injury of the spinal cord in which all sensation, motor an reflex repsonses are lost below the level of injury temporarily
how long does spinal shock take to resilve
about 24 hours
how can you know spinal shock has resolved
the bulbocavernour reflex returns ( either a squeeze of the glans penis, tapping the mons pubis or pulling on a urethral catheter causes contraction of anal sphincter)
what is neurogenic shock
sympathetic outflow is blocked due to cervical or upper throacic cord injury - results in hypotension, brady cardia, basically unopposed parasympathetic innervation
can cause priapism
important to remember that hypovolaemic shock is most common in spinal cord injuries regardless
shoulder abduction
C5
flexion at elbow
C5, C6
extension at elbow
C 7, 8
finger flexion
C8
finger adduction and abduction
T1
hip flexion
L1, 2
Knee flexion
L5, S2
knee extension
L3, L4
plantaflexion
S1, S2
Dorsiflexion
L4, 5
great toe dorsifelxion
L5
toe adduction
S2, 3
main types of incomplete cord injuries
central cord
anterior cord
posterior cord
brown sequard
central cord syndrome most commonly occurs due to
hyperextension injury of the cervical spine with OA
symptoms of central cord syndrome
paralysis of arms , sacral sparing, legs usually not affected as corticospinal tract for the upper limbs is more central
symptoms of anterior cord syndrome
loss of motor function (corticospinal tracts) as well as loss of coarse touch, pain and temperature sensation (lateral spinothalamic tract) whilst proprioception, vibration sense and light touch are preserved (dorsal columns) below the level of injury
posterior cord syndrome
dorsal colum function lost - proprioception, vibration, fine touch
what is brown sequard
ipsilateral loss of fine touch proprioception and vibration and motor function
contralateral loss of pain and temperature
