Ottawa Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer | Complete and Partial Spinal Cord Injuries
If you have suffered a spinal cord injury in Eastern Ontario or Ottawa, our experienced personal injury lawyers would be pleased to assist you recover the funds that you need for your rehabilitation and compensation.
After a serious accident involving the spinal cord, it is normal and necessary to look for information. One question our clients ask shortly after a serious spinal cord injury is how do they know how serious the injury is.
Severity of the Spinal Cord Injury
Spinal cord injury symptoms are dictated by two factors: The location of the injury on the spine and the degree of the injury.
Generally, spinal cord injuries that are higher in your spinal cord produce greater paralysis. A spinal cord injury at the cervical (neck) level may cause paralysis in both arms and legs. It may make it impossible to breathe without a respirator. On the other hand, a lower level injury may affect only your legs and lower parts of your body.
Your spinal cord injury may be “partial” or “complete” which depends on the extent of the cord width that is damaged.
For a partial (also called “incomplete”) spinal cord injury, the spinal cord is able to convey some information to or from your brain. As a result, if you have a “partial” spinal cord injury, you may retain some feeling and possibly some motor control below the injured area.
For a complete spinal cord injury, the injured person will experience a total or near-total loss of motor control and feeling below the injury. The spinal cord is rarely ever severed in half. The term “complete” is used to describe significant damage to the spinal cord.
The distinction between partial spinal cord injury and complete spinal cord injury is significant because people with partial injuries are sometimes able to experience significant recovery, while those with complete injuries are not.
