Spinal Cord Injury
What is a spinal cord injury (SCI)?
The spinal cord can be thought of as an extension of your brain – it is made of nerve tissue that runs from the base of your skull to your lower back, carrying signals from the brain to the rest of your body (and vice-versa). I like to think of it as a main highway, and the nerves that stem from the spinal cord act as highway exits. The spinal cord is protected by your spine, which acts as a bony tunnel around it. It can be injured by trauma (from a car crash or fall, for example) or disease (such as a tumor or infection).
Craig Hospital in Colorado has a 4-minute video with the basics.
See blog posts in the Spinal Cord Injury Medicine category for more information.
Useful professional organizations & resources for SCI
- Association of Spinal Cord Injury Professionals (ASCIP) – this is an umbrella organization for several smaller discipline-specific organizations
- American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) – the premier North American association for SCI. The ASIA e-Learning Center is an excellent resource for medical education, especially for learning the International Standards for Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury (ISNCSCI, “in-ski”; informally known as “the ASIA exam” because it was originally developed by ASIA)
- International Spinal Cord Society (ISCOS) – from their website, the organization “promotes the highest standard of care in the practice of spinal cord injury for men, women and children throughout the world. Through its medical and multi disciplinary team of Professionals ISCoS endeavours to foster education, research and clinical excellence.”
- ASIA and ASCIP put together a set of resources specific for primary care physicians. It’s also useful for non-primary care physicians who also take care of SCI patients and want to know about the special issues they face due to the SCI.
- SCIRE Project – the Spinal Cord Injury Research Evidence project, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Patient Resources
- Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation – movie star Christopher Reeve went from playing Superman to patient with quadriplegia, after a horseback riding accident. Good, solid information source and links to a peer and mentorship program.
- Facing Disability – information resource for patients and their families/caregivers. The site has a community forum, and multiple videos from SCI experts and people living with SCI.
- Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center – fact sheets, videos, slide shows and more, for patient and caregiver education. The Model Systems are 14 institutions spread throughout the USA with grant funding for research on SCI. Other Model Systems exist for traumatic brain injury and burns.
- New Mobility Magazine – magazine for active wheelchair users.
- Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) – website for the organization, which has information useful for veterans and non-veterans. They also have the Clinical Practice Guidelines for many conditions/body systems for clinicians and patients.
- Educational sites from major hospitals in the USA: Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Georgia; Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota; the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. The University of Washington has a list of online resources aside from educational information.
- SCIRE Community – the partner site for the SCI research evidence project geared towards the consumer/patient.
