The nervous system consists of a central, a peripheral and a vegetative part. The central nervous system consists of the brain and spinal cord. The nervous system is used for the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of information. Together with the hormone systems, it controls the...
If the bladder is empty, the bladder muscle (detrusor) relaxes and the sphincter contracts – the bladder is shut.
The nerves connected to the bladder wall register the bladder stretching, and as it fills, they carry a message to the brain. During urination, the...
ParaHelp specialises in advice and care for patients with spinal cord injuries, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or spina bifida. Together with the patients themselves, their relatives and experts, we develop individual solutions to the challenges of everyday life. We help to prevent...
The occurrence of a spinal cord injury, whether caused by an accident, illness or medical intervention, is unforeseeable and usually happens very quickly. It is like a turning point in life and nothing seems the same afterwards. Many things that used to be familiar, safe and controllable are no...
Wiki
Household
To perform household tasks can be a big challenge for people with a spinal cord injury (SCI): cooking, doing the dishes and laundry, but also opening packages with only limited arm/hand function. A tetraplegic person with a complete lesion at the level C1-C4 is fully dependent on assisting people. People with a lesion level of C6-C8 can perform certain activities independently, like preparing...
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Bladder stimulator
What is a bladder stimulator?
A bladder stimulator is an implant with which the nerves of the bladder and bowel can be stimulated directly, enabling the bladder and bowel to be emptied. It can only be used on people with a complete spinal cord injury and spastic cystoparalysis.
How does a bladder stimulator work?
Signals are sent externally to an implanted receiver (D) using a controller...
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Medical measures to promote defecation
Medical stimulation and the regulation of stool consistency are often necessary in order to control defecation in people with spinal cord injury (SCI). Laxatives1 can be hazardous to health, although many of them are herbal. The principle is: as little as possible – as much as necessary.
Taking laxatives can induce a habituation effect – they are therefore not suitable for long-term use....
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Bowel incontinence
Bowel incontinence is the involuntary loss of bowel contents, including flatus and faeces. The causes may be of neurogenic, muscular or textural nature. However, an individually-developed bowel management makes it possible to maintain continence and to mostly avoid incontinence issues.
Specific forms of diarrhoea
Diarrhoea is the technical term for loose stool. Diarrhoea is frequent...
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