Spine injuries can involve the vertebrae or the spinal cord, or both. When the cord is damaged, the injuries are described as complete or incomplete. A complete spinal cord injury is the most severe form of injury, such that the cord is essentially transected and no impulses can get above the level of the injury. An incomplete injury means impulses are still being transmitted through the injury site to and from the extremities and the brain. Complete injuries have poor recovery rates.
Incomplete injuries allow some recovery of function, which, occasionally, can be dramatic.
The most evident sign of a spinal cord injury is paralysis. Between those extremes, patients may experience extreme pain in the head, neck and back. They may have difficulty walking, as well as urinary and bowel difficulties. Breathing can be impaired in high cervical injuries, such as the high cord injury that Christopher Reeve sustained in his riding accident a few years ago. Around 450,000 people in the United States have sustained a spinal cord injury, with more than 10,000 new cases reported every year.