Approximately 40 percent of spine injuries are a result of car accidents. Exposure to trauma to your lumbar spine, thoracic spine, or cervical spine from a car accident can pose a potentially life-threatening injury and cause paralysis from your neck down to the waist. Therefore, it is crucial to immediately seek medical attention, care, and treatment when you fall victim to a fatal auto accident. Read on to learn how a Roswell motor vehicle accident injury specialist can help you.
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Anatomy of the Spine
When you sustain a spine injury, the results are often felt in certain body areas, especially below the injury area on the spine. This is the main reason spine injuries that occur high up on a person’s neck are so dangerous as they could result in paralysis from your neck down.
Generally, a person’s spine usually consists of three main regions that include:
· Lumbar spine (lower back).
· Thoracic spine (mid-back).
· Cervical spine (upper and neck back).
One of the most effective means of avoiding permanent spine damage and increasing recovery chances is to seek medical attention, care, and treatment immediately.
What Is a Car Accident Spine Injury?
A car accident spine injury is simply an injury to your lumbar, thoracic, or cervical spine. If it happens to impair or damage your spinal cord, then it could result in paralysis. Paralysis is triggered by permanent damage to the spinal cord and its nerves. In turn, this causes you to completely lose the ability to control movement or feel the sensation of other body functions below the injury area.
If the injury causes some motor or sensory function to remain, then the paralysis is called ”incomplete.” But if it results in all or a near-total loss of motor and sensory function, it is called “incomplete’’ paralysis.
Symptoms of Spine Injury
If you happen to experience any of the following symptoms of spinal cord injury, then you should immediately seek medical assistance:
- Numbness.
- Muscle spasms.
- Muscle weakness.
- Loss of motion.
- Loss of sense of touch.
- Loss of sense of temperature.
- Sexual dysfunction.
- Difficulty in breathing.
- Tingling sensation.
- Digestion problems.
- Painful sensation along your spine.
- Pinching sensation along your spine.
- Loss of bladder or bowel control.
Effects of a Spine Injury
The most life-changing and overwhelming effect of car accident spine injuries is paralysis. This occurs when your spinal cord is completely damaged by the injury, such that you lose the ability to feel and freely move your arms or legs. Quadriplegia is paralysis that causes you to lose the sensation or movement from your neck to all the way down.
How Are Spine Injuries Treated?
At the Polaris Spine & Neurosurgery Center, our team of skilled neurosurgeons has developed individualized treatment solutions such as traditional open spine surgery and minimally invasive spine surgery for your car accident spine injuries. They also use surgical techniques based on the severity, type, symptoms, and your general health. Moreover, our medical team also specialize in:
· Microdiscectomy.
· Disc replacement.
· Spinal decompression.
· Cervical fusion.
· Discectomy and fusion.
Conclusion
For any of your car accident spine injuries, our highly experienced team at Polaris Spine & Neurosurgery Center in Sandy Springs, Bethlehem, and College Park, Georgia, has a wealth of knowledge in treating motor vehicle spine and head injuries, including severe subdural hematomas. To book a consultation, schedule an appointment online or call any of our offices near you.