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Cervical Spinal Cord

What Constitutes a Cervical Spinal Cord Injury?

A complete or incomplete cervical spinal cord injury is a serious medical condition. A key part of your central nervous system, your spinal cord acts as the superhighway for messages between your brain and the rest of your body. When it’s damaged, you’re unable to do the simplest things, such as walking or even lifting your hand, although it depends on the severity of the injury.

What Are the Symptoms of a Cervical Spinal Cord Injury?

Your spinal cord injury may give you different symptoms, depending on the location and severity of the damage. At worst, you may be completely or partially paralyzed, which obviously changes your life in negative ways. At best, you feel nagging pain in your neck.

Your symptoms may progressively worsen over time to the point that you need cervical cord compression treatment. If the damage is from an accident, you may require immediate treatment by a spine specialist. In either case, a cervical spinal cord injury may lead to:

  • Muscle weakness and loss of fine motor skills
  • Paralysis in your torso, arms or legs
  • Muscle spasms
  • Breathing problems
  • A loss of control over your bowel and bladder functions
  • Sexual dysfunction
  • Problems with your blood pressure and your heart
  • Extreme back pain and neck pain
  • Tingling or numbness in your hands and fingers

What Causes Cervical Spinal Cord Injury?

Most often, damage to your spinal cord originates from an accident. But you can develop spinal cord diseases, too. The most common causes of a cervical spinal cord injury include:

  • Sports-related injuries
  • Diving accidents
  • Trampoline incidents
  • Violence, such as a gunshot or stabbing
  • Domestic abuse
  • Infections that cause an abscess on your spinal cord
  • Medical conditions like scoliosis, spondylosis or rheumatoid arthritis
  • Birth injuries around the neck area of the infant

Nearly 12,000 new cases of cervical spinal cord injury happen every year in America. Of these, 42 percent of cervical vertebrae injuries are due to car accidents, mostly in the younger age group. Meanwhile, people over the age of 65 usually get spinal cord injuries from a serious fall.

What Is Cervical Spinal Cord Compression?

Cervical cord compression is another way of describing unnatural pressure that placed on your neck’s spinal cord, usually causing pain and other mobility-limiting symptoms. Your spinal cord is protected by the vertebral bones of your spinal column. When that support is compromised, your spinal cord may become damaged or compressed.

Your NJ spine surgeon determines the cause in a diagnosis, after which he develops a treatment plan. Some diagnoses that cause spinal problems in your neck include:

  • Degenerative disc disease
  • Cervical facet syndrome
  • Degenerative joint disease
  • A herniated disc in your neck
  • A slipped or bulging disc
  • Radiculopathy
  • Stenosis in your cervical spine
  • Cervical myelopathy

How Do You Treat a Cervical Spinal Cord Injury?

Once your spinal cord is injured, there is unfortunately no way to reverse the damage. Most cervical cord injury treatment focuses on preventing further spinal problems. To fully diagnose the extent of your spinal injury, you may need to get x-rays, an MRI or a CT scan. The initial treatment focuses on monitoring your heart rate, blood pressure and other basic bodily functions.

You may need positional cervical cord compression treatment if only parts of your spinal cord are compromised. Your Edison, NJ spine surgeon Dr. Skovrlj can better assist you once he’s examined you and asked about how your spine was injured. Different spinal problems — whether a cervical-level spinal cord compression or a cervical vertebrae injury — require different surgeries to prevent further damage. Your treatments include:

  • Cervical disc replacement
  • Laminectomy
  • Corpectomy
  • Discectomy
  • Spinal fusion
  • Spinal reconstruction surgery
  • Lumbar foraminotomy
  • Lumbar decompression
  • Hemilaminectomy
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