Paralysis
Defining Paralysis
Paralysis is defined as “impairment or loss of voluntary muscle function or of sensation in a part or area of the body, usually caused by a lesion or disorder of the muscles or the nerves supplying them.”
Nerves are the most complex cells in any living body thereby making the Central Nervous System (CNS), the brain and spinal cord, the most difficult area for humans to research and understand. Nevertheless, doctors have begun to grasp the intricacies of the motor pathway located primarily within the CNS, the canal of nerves that run from the brain through the spinal cord to the different limbs and muscles, and have learned just how fragile this motor pathway is.
Any damage to the pathway impairs the message flow from “the brain to the body’s systems that control sensory, motor and automatic functions.”
An injured brain or an injured cord will reduce, if not eliminate, the vital communication linkages found between the CNS and the voluntary muscles of the body that are needed to carry out any given movement or action. In turn, paralysis is accompanied by other body changes such as loss of bowel, bladder, and sexual functions, low blood pressure, chronic pain, depression, and respiratory complications.
A pressure sore is another common complication of paralysis, and a serious one can cause a dangerous infection in the surrounding muscle and sometimes the bone.
Causes of Paralysis
There are many different causes of paralysis, yet despite the diversity of strains, in each case the cure is exactly the same: to find a way to regenerate the damaged nerves in the motor pathway system.
The two most common causes of paralysis are: 1) strokes, which account for 29% of all paralyzed individuals in the United States and 2) spinal cord injuries, which account for 23%.
In the former case, damage to the motor pathway occurs at the brain, while in the later, the brain remains in tact, but the spinal cord is injured. Similarly, other neurodegenerative diseases such as Lou Gehrig’s Disease and Transverse Myelitis involve damaged nerve cells at the site of the spinal cord, while Multiple Sclerosis and Cerebral Palsy are both disorders affecting the nerves in the brain; these two causes account for 17% and 7% respectively of all paralyzed Americans.
Spinal cord injuries (SCI) are particularly worth noting, not only because they are the second leading cause of paralysis in the United States, but also because there are “more than five times the number of Americans [living with SCI than] previously estimated in 2007.” The most common cause of a SCI is a “working accident” (28%). Motor vehicle accidents account for 24% of all SCIs, while sporting and recreational activities account for 16% of injuries. Regardless of how an SCI may occur, it can happen to anyone, in any place, at any given time.
Costs of Paralysis
The costs of paralysis are enormous and each day these costs are becoming increasingly burdensome for governments and nations. For spinal cord injuries in the United States, “direct costs of care of the newly injured patients per year is $4.4 billion [while] post first year direct annual cost of care for chronic injuries is $14.9 billion.”
An injury in the C3 and C4 vertebrae, like Luis’, would typically incur costs of up to $800,000 dollars during the first year after his accident, and approximately $140,000 dollars each subsequent year.
Everyday living costs associated with paralysis are also high for those living with the condition. The statistics indicate that one out of every four paralyzed individuals in the US has an income below $10,000 dollars. With approximately $800 dollars a month for both living and medical expenses, it’s no surprise that paralysis does not just confine an individual to a wheelchair, but also to a life of poverty.
New Statistics about SCI
The Christopher Reeve Paralysis Task Force discovered that there was insufficient reliable information about the prevalence of paralysis and performed a study that confirmed new findings. Today, a staggering 6 million people are living with paralysis in the United States, 33 percent more than previous estimates indicated. Of these 6 million people, over 1 million are Spinal Cord Injured. This number translates to nearly 1 in 50 people, which means that there is a mere one degree of separation between each one of us and a paralyzed individual.