Paralysis is the loss of functioning or feeling because of injury or disease to a person’s nervous system. In 1995, Christopher Reeve severely damaged his spinal cord and suffered paralysis from the neck down after a horse fall. Despite the devastation of the accident, Reeve became a spokesman for spinal cord injury and paralysis, using his celebrity to raise national interest. There is no cure for a spinal cord injury and paralysis, but Reeve’s advocacy increased researching funding, giving hope to trauma victims, families and friends.
Approximately 40 percent of all spinal cord injuries are caused by motor vehicle accidents, the leading cause of all new spinal cord injuries every year. Depending on where the location of the injury is will determine what type of paralysis is suffered. Usually, injuries higher in the spinal cord will cause more paralysis. An injury at the neck level, for instance, is more likely to cause paralysis in both arms, legs and make it impossible to breathe without the aid of a respirator, but a lower injury may affect just the lower parts of the body.
For people under 65, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of spinal cord injury and paralysis. Should a spinal cord injury be suffered, recovery typically will start between a week and six months after injury if it occurs, but doctors will usually view any impairments lasting after a one to two year period as permanent. Adjusting to paralysis, in addition to causing high financial costs, can be very difficult emotionally and psychologically to adapt to.
Paralysis will likely affect just about every aspect of life. More than half the people living with a spinal cord injury and some degree of paralysis were injured between the ages of 16 and 31, so patients are usually affected during their youth. Not only can a spinal cord injury cause paralysis, but a number of other complication, such as urinary tract problems, pressure sores, lung and breathing problems, bowel management difficulties, spasticity, autonomic dysreflexia, sexual dysfunction and many other conditions.
Though there is still no way to reverse damage to the spinal cord and paralysis, advances in recent years have been considerable. Focusing on preventing further injury and new paralysis injuries from occurring, in the meantime, needs more attention. Because of the significant impact auto accidents have on paralysis sufferers, auto manufacturers and federal regulators have been criticized in recent years for failing to implement stricter standards and include basic safety measures in vehicles.
A new report on auto industry data released March 30, 2005 showed automakers have misled government regulators and the public for years by claiming roof strength and injuries in rollover crashes are unrelated. For years, automakers have been trying to fight off liability in lawsuits by arguing head and neck injuries, like paralysis, occurred in rollover crashes when the vehicle occupants dive into the roofs, but the new report analyzed Ford’s own tests to show roof crush does occur prior to injurious neck loads during rollovers.
The report was released at a particularly important time since regulators were on the verge of proposing new roof strength standards that would update standards dating from 1971 after years of making unfilled promises for changes to be made. Safety experts have criticized the agency’s failure to implement changes despite the 6,000 to 7,000 of the 10,000 rollover deaths that occur every year attributed to roof collapse and roof crush. Public Citizen consumer advocacy group president, Joan Claybrook, said one of the “basic tenets” of auto safety is to prevent injuries, yet the auto industry has continued to mislead the NHTSA and the public strictly for financial reasons, allowing a higher number of deaths and devastating injuries, like paralysis to be suffered.
Although possible to retain sensation after a spinal cord injury, most traumas will cause permanent disability or loss of movement, or paralysis, or other sensation loss