Body & Complications

In people with spinal cord injuries, the paralysis affects the control of the vegetative nervous system. Orthostatic¹ dysregulation can occur in the case of paralysis at a high level, in particular.

Blood pressure is self-regulating in healthy people. There is disruption to this regulation, which is controlled by the vegetative nervous system, in people with spinal cord injuries. When...

What is osteoporosis?

Osteoporosis is a disease of the skeleton which leads to a reduction in bone mineral density, as well as to a change in the micro-architecture of the bone. As a consequence of that, the strength of the bone affected is much reduced, creating the possibility of broken bones when exposed to only minimal force during your normal routine.

What may be the causes?

In...

Spasticity develops as a result of damage to the spinal cord or to the brain. The term comes from the Greek word “spasmos”, which means muscle cramp. Spasticity and spasms frequently play a central role in the lives of people with spinal cord injuries and their caretakers.

Why does spasticity occur?

The regulation of body tension is very complex. Movements are controlled jointly by the brain...

What is syringomyelia?

Syringomyelia is a slowly progressing process in which the grey matter of the spinal cord, especially in the cervical and thoracic areas of the medulla, becomes loose and a fluid-filled cavity forms. They are very rare and occur spontaneously (1–2 per 1,000,000 inhabitants) and following spinal cord injuries where they can occur months or even years after the...

What is thrombosis and what causes it?

Thrombosis is a condition where a blood clot (thrombus) (A) forms inside a blood vessel and thus causes a restriction or blockage of the blood flow within the vessel (B).

Thromboses are dangerous as they might lead to a pulmonary embolism (see FAQs) in the event of the blood clot travelling to the lungs (C).

When is there an increased risk of...

Breathing is the most normal thing in the world for us. We hardly think about it, even though we breathe in and out about 20,000 times per day. We breathe more when we are active and exerting ourselves, and we breathe less when we are inactive.

The oxygen inhaled is delivered to every cell in our body, no matter how small. In the cells a sort of combustion takes place resulting in the...

Inhalation therapy is a standard treatment for acute or chronic conditions of the respiratory tract. By inhalation therapy, we mean the therapeutic inhaling of medication or the therapeutic moistening of the mucous membrane of the respiratory tract. The latter stimulates the self-cleaning mechanism of the lungs. Semi-fluid secretion can thus be liquefied and therefore mobilised more easily....

Coughing up secretion is very important to enable you to breathe freely. Coughing is a protective reflex for cleaning the respiratory tract since it loosens the mucous which can then be transported out of the airways.

Coughing requires abdominal and rib muscles. For people with spinal cord injury, these muscles may be impaired depending on the diagnosis, the type of paralysis and the...

Invasive respiration

What does invasive respiration mean?

For people with spinal cord injuries with a lesion at a level of C4 or higher, breathing is inadequate, or there is a complete absence of it. As a result, people affected are dependent upon invasive respiration – invasive because the respiration takes place through a tracheostomy tube which runs through the neck directly into the...

The windpipe, which is also known as the trachea, begins under the larynx and extends as far as the chest, where it is spread out into the bronchial system of the lungs. The windpipe is a stable, fixed tube through which inhaled air is conducted into the lungs. During a tracheotomy, access is created to the windpipe by bypassing the upper airways in order to guarantee unimpeded breathing or...