What is a spinal cord injury? The human vertebrae can be roughly divided into five parts: the cervical, thoracic, lumbar, sacral and caudal vertebrae. The vertebrae are tightly connected by intervertebral discs, ligaments and muscles, while the spinal nerves are located in the center of the spine and are protected by the spine. Generally speaking, the most common cause of spinal cord nerve damage is accidental trauma. In addition, bacterial or filtered viral infections, benign or malignant tumors of the spine, degeneration of the spine such as bone spurs or other (congenital) diseases can also cause damage to the spinal cord. What happens after a spinal cord injury? When the nerves in the spinal cord are damaged, perception, movement and messages from the autonomic nervous system are all affected. This can lead to complications such as bed sores, urinary tract infections, spasms, respiratory insufficiency, heart and tracheal dysfunction, gastrointestinal disorders, spinal deformities, pathological fractures, psychological changes, etc. The degree of spinal cord nerve damage and the chance of rehabilitation depend on the location and severity of the damage, and whether the cause of the damage can be removed; some patients may be affected in all four limbs, while others are affected only in the lower body. In terms of rehabilitation prognosis, some patients may regain the ability to walk, while others may require a wheelchair. In layman’s terms, once a spinal cord nerve is ruptured, there is a massive “blackout” in parts of the body, resulting in lifelong partial or total paralysis in some patients. Can a spinal cord rupture be saved? Spinal cord injury and its secondary pathophysiological reactions can result in progressive loss of neural tissue and the formation of a cavity or scar at the site of injury, leading to loss of sensorimotor function. Primary spinal cord injuries are also often associated with complications, such as urinary complications and respiratory complications. Therefore, it is very important to provide timely and effective rehabilitation to patients. Rehabilitation of spinal cord injury is an application of modern medical technology to enable people with spinal cord injury to maximize the mobilization of residual limb function to compensate for the lost function, eliminate and reduce the functional impairment of the patient, help the patient to restore his or her ability to live and work to the maximum extent permitted by his or her body, to rejoin social life, to support himself or herself, to become a disabled but not disabled, a person with independent living The spinal cord injury rehabilitation should be carried out at an early stage. Rehabilitation of spinal cord injury should be started at an early stage. There are two situations after the injury: one requires surgery, and the other is conservative treatment (that is, non-surgical treatment). As long as the condition is stable and there are no other combined injuries, rehabilitation should begin. Of course, early activity is not allowed to be too extensive, and should not affect the effect of surgery. The main activity should be to move all joints of the body and maintain normal joint mobility, 2 to 3 times a day, and each joint should be moved for less than 1 minute. In addition, with the doctor’s permission and under the nurse’s guidance, position change, that is, regular turning, to prevent pressure sores, generally once every 2 hours, protruding bone parts (such as scapula, heel, back, sacrococcygeal, double limbs) with soft pads, pay attention to the smooth discharge of urine and stool, pay attention to temperature changes, pay attention to comfort the patient, improve the patient’s psychology, notify the doctor and nurse of any abnormal changes, pay attention to the food The patient should pay attention to the nutrition of the food and drink water regularly. If early rehabilitation is done well, it will create a good foundation for comprehensive rehabilitation training in the future. In recent years, my team and I have found that for paraplegic patients with acute spinal cord injury, about 2 years after the injury and with segmental reflexes, we can try to perform spinal cord electrical stimulation surgery to restore spinal nerve function by giving built-in electrical stimulation to the spinal cord nerves with residual function.