Spinal shock is often referred to by physicians in clinical practice, and the term has been used for more than 100 years to describe primarily the decreased excitability of the dissociated spinal cord after spinal cord injury. Following spinal cord injury, all skeletal and visceral reflexes below the plane of transection are depressed or completely inhibited, voluntary reflexes are absent, and there is no sweating below the plane of injury. The mechanism of spinal cord shock is unclear, and it is thought that the sudden interruption of the emmetropic action of the nervous system above the plane of injury reduces the excitability of spinal cord motor and interneurons. The inhibition process is deepest and lasts longest in the segments of the spinal cord closest to the injury. Transient reflex inhibition is seen in several segments of the spinal cord above the injury area. Spinal cord shock usually lasts 2 to 4 weeks, but bladder infections, decubitus ulcers and other complications may prolong the time, and the duration of no reflexes after trauma is generally shorter in young people than in older people.