Who Do Spinal Cord Injuries Affect in the United States?
250,000 Americans are spinal cord injured.
52% of spinal cord injured individuals are considered paraplegic and 47% quadriplegic.
Approximately 11,000 new injuries occur each year.
82% are male.
56% of injuries occur between the ages of 16 and 30.
The average age of spinal cord injured person is 31.
SCI injuries are most commonly caused by:
Vehicular accidents 37%
Violence 28%
Falls 21%
Sports-related 6%
Other 8%
The most rapidly increasing cause of injuries is due to violence; vehicular accident injuries are decreasing in number.
89% of all SCI individuals are discharged from hospitals to a private home, 4.3% are discharged to nursing homes.
Only 52% of SCI individuals are covered by private health insurance at time of injury.
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What is Spinal Cord Injury?
Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) is damage to the spinal cord that results in a loss of function such as mobility or feeling. Frequent causes of damage are trauma (car accident, gunshot, falls, etc.) or disease (polio, spina bifida, Friedreich's Ataxia, etc.). The spinal cord does not have to be severed in order for a loss of functioning to occur. In fact, in most people with SCI, the spinal cord is intact, but the damage to it results in loss of functioning.
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Total Number of People with SCI
82% male, 18% female
Highest per capita rate of injury occurs between ages 16-30
Average age at injury - 33.4
Median age at injury - 26
Mode (most frequent) age at injury 19
Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of SCI (44%), followed by acts of violence (24%),falls (22%) and sports (8%), other (2%)
2/3 of sports injuries are from diving
Falls overtake motor vehicles as leading cause after age 45
Acts of violence and sports cause less injuries as age increases
Acts of violence have overtaken falls as the second most common source of spinal cord injury
Marital status at injury:
Single 53%
Married 31%
Divorced 9%
Other 7%
5 years post-injury:
88% of single people with SCI were still single vs. 65% of the non-SCI population
81% of married people with SCI were still married vs. 89% of the non-SCI population
Employment status among persons between 16 and 59 years of age at injury:
Employed 58.8%
Unemployed 41.2%
(includes: students, retired, and homemakers)
Employed 8 years post-injury:
Paraplegic 34.4%
Quadriplegic 24.3%
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How are spinal injuries caused?
Motor vehicles 48%
Falls 21%
Sports 14% (66% of which are caused in diving accidents)
Violence 15%
Other 2%
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The effects of SCI depend on the type of injury and the level of the injury. SCI can be divided into two types of injury - complete and incomplete. A complete injury means that there is no function below the level of the injury; no sensation and no voluntary movement. Both sides of the body are equally affected. An incomplete injury means that there is some functioning below the primary level of the injury. A person with an incomplete injury may be able to move one limb more than another, may be able to feel parts of the body that cannot be moved, or may have more functioning on one side of the body than the other. With the advances in acute treatment of SCI, incomplete injuries are becoming more common.The level of injury is very helpful in predicting what parts of the body might be affected by paralysis and loss of function. Remember that in incomplete injuries there will be some variation in these prognoses. Cervical (neck) injuries usually result in quadriplegia. Injuries above the C-4 level may require a ventilator for the person to breathe. C-5 injuries often result in shoulder and biceps control, but no control at the wrist or hand. C-6 injuries generally yield wrist control, but no hand function. Individuals with C-7 and T-1 injuries can straighten their arms but still may have dexterity problems with the hand and fingers.Injuries at the thoracic level and below result in paraplegia, with the hands not affected. At T-1 to T-8 there is most often control of the hands, but poor trunk control as the result of lack of abdominal muscle control. Lower T-injuries (T-9 to T-12) allow good trunck control and good abdominal muscle control. Sitting balance is very good. Lumbar and Sacral injuries yield decreasing control of the hip flexors and legs.Besides a loss of sensation or motor functioning, individuals with SCI also experience other changes. For example, they may experience dysfunction of the bowel and bladder. Sexual functioning is frequently affected: men with SCI may have their fertility affected, while women's fertility is generally not affected. Very high injuries (C-1, C-2) can result in a loss of many involuntary functions including the ability to breathe, necessitating breathing aids such as mechanical ventilators or diaphragmatic pacemakers. Other effects of SCI may include low blood pressure, inability to regulate blood pressure effectively, reduced control of body temperature, inability to sweat below the level of injury, and chronic pain.
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What Do Spinal Cord Injuries Really Cost?
Length of initial hospitalization following injury in acute care units: 15 days
Average stay in rehabilitation unit: 44 days
Initial hospitalization costs following injury: $140,000
Average first year expenses for a SCI injury (all groups): $198,000
First year expenses for paraplegics: $152,000
First year expenses for quadriplegics: $417,000
Average lifetime costs for paraplegics, age of injury 25: $428,000
Average lifetime costs for quadriplegics, age of injury 25: $1.35 million
Percentage of SCI individuals who are covered by private health insurance at time of injury 52%
Percentage of SCI individuals unemployed eight years after injury 63%.
Heroes:
A hero is often considered to be someone exceptionally brave, courageous, and risk their own lives to help people in trouble. An everyday hero may not be born exceptionally heroic with anything, but everyday they rise to the challenge when calamity strikes -- be it a roadside emergency, a burglary next door, a sudden shark attack, or even living with a uncurable disability. Life is a rough hard ride and therefore there are a lot of everyday heroes among us.
