This disrupts the signals going from the brain to the legs, the arms, and sometimes the breathing muscles. The most common traumatic cause of SCI is motor vehicle collisions. Falls are another common cause. Many older patients develop SCI from gradual narrowing of the spinal canal from arthritis. We usually hear terms like paraplegic and quadriplegic used when describing victims of spinal cord injury.
Paraplegia means paralysis of both legs.
Quadriplegia means paralysis of both arms and both legs. They mean exactly the same thing. You have found sleep apnea to be more common in your SCI patients than in the normal population. People with untreated sleep apnea probably are more likely to have spinal cord injuries, since they are more likely to be involved in motor vehicle collisions. I think that most SCI patients with sleep apnea developed it because of their injury.