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Hope of Recovery & Cure
Recovery
Spinal shock may initially mask the eventual
outcome of your impairment. You may be
tempted to not participate in some aspects of
your rehabilitation in the hope that you will
recover the function as your injury settles.
It is true that there are many different
outcomes from similar levels of impairment,
especially if you have an incomplete injury.
The hope that you will recover lost function
should not stop you from participating in
your rehabilitation. If you work harder
towards your rehabilitation now you will
be able to make better use of any return of
function later. You will also be able to get
out of hospital sooner!
Cure
You may want to know what the likelihood
of a ‘cure’ is. A spinal cord injury is not a
disease, even if it has been caused by one,
and therefore cannot be ‘cured’. As with
any other injury, medical professions treat
the symptoms and effects of the injury as
best as modern medicine allows.
A spinal cord injury is one of the most
complicated injuries the body can sustain.
At the time of this publication there are over
200 research programmes internationally
studying all of the aspects of spinal cord
injury and regeneration. There are many
hopeful advances but none of these
programmes have successfully restored full
function following a complete lesion.
Whilst it is reasonable to assume that the
constant advances in medical technology
will eventually allow surgeons to restore
function to injured spinal cords, it is also
likely that these procedures may initially be
available only for the newly injured. This
is because the body ‘att cks’ the site of the
lesion following injury. It seems that the
first advances in spinal cord injury will be
in preventing the body attacking the injured
area within the first 48 hours
Existing injuries may be more difficul to
repair than ‘new’ ones.
After injury, damaged nerve cells release
Calcium ions and substances that break
down the protective myelin insulation of
nerves and other cell membranes. This chain
reaction damages nerve cells near the site of
injury that could otherwise have recovered.
The damage also seems to be more severe if
there is a lack of oxygen following the injury.
A lot of research is going into preventing this
secondary injury to reduce the overall effec
of the injury. There are many publications
and websites devoted to the advances in
spinal cord research if you are interested in
learning more about this.
“We do not discourage
hope for an eventual ‘cure’
but we do encourage you
to do everything within
your capabilities to have
an active and enjoyable
life now! If you sit and
wait for a ‘maybe’ you may
end up disappointed and
missing out on the many
opportunities available
immediately.”
© New Zealand Spinal Trust, 2014
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