Paraplegia in Spinal Cord Injury

Spinal cord injuries are becoming more and more common. In fact, the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation estimates that there are more than one million people living with some type of spinal cord injury in 2010. A spinal cord injury that causes a loss of function in the legs is called paraplegia.

What Causes Paraplegia

Most spinal cord injuries are either the result of a motor vehicle accident or a work-related injury; however, other common causes include sports accidents, falls and violent crimes. The physical trauma of such accidents can compress or even sever the spinal cord, causing temporary or permanent damage. When the spinal cord damage affects the function of the lower limbs, it is termed paraplegia.

Effects of Paraplegia

In people with paraplegia, movement and sensation below the level of spinal cord injury is impaired to some degree. According to the Mayo Clinic, someone who is paraplegic will not only have symptoms in both of his legs, but also in his trunk and some of the organs in the pelvis. For some people, paraplegia disrupts bowel and bladder function. It may also impair sexual function. According to the National Spinal Cord Injury Association (NSCIA), paraplegia can affect the breathing muscles, and the ability to regulate temperature and blood pressure, depending on what part of the spinal cord is damaged.

Types of Paraplegia

Not all people with paraplegia end up in a wheelchair. This is because spinal cord damage can be either complete or incomplete. In complete paraplegia, all function is absent below the level of spinal cord injury. With incomplete paraplegia, however, some function below the level of spinal cord injury remains intact. For example, a person who is an incomplete paraplegic may be able to walk again with physical therapy, or may have control of her bowel and bladder. Additionally, paraplegics can have very different abilities based on their level of injury. A person with a high injury in the middle or upper back, for instance, may have more trunk weakness than a person with a lower back injury.

The NSCIA reports that while there is no known cure for spinal cord injury, many people with paraplegia recover function gradually, and may continue to gain function for a year or more following their injury. Treatment following a spinal cord injury with paraplegia involves stabilizing the spine, often through surgery, as well as physical and occupational therapy.


The prognosis for someone with paraplegia is based on his level of injury, and whether or not his spinal cord is completely or incompletely damaged. However, the NSCIA stresses that most people with paraplegia from spinal cord injuries are able to have "normal" lives, just like anyone else. They may just learn to do things in a different way. These days, a person with paraplegia can hold a job, have a family and participate in almost any imaginable recreational activity using adaptive devices and specialized equipment.