1.What is spinal cord injury? Spinal cord injury is a transverse damage to the spinal cord caused by a variety of pathogenic factors (trauma, inflammation, tumor, etc.), resulting in damage to the spinal cord below the level of neurological function (motor, sensory, sphincter and vegetative nerve function) disorders. 2. What are the causes of spinal cord injury? Spinal cord injury is actually not uncommon, its causes are mainly two aspects, one is traumatic, various causes of trauma, as long as the involvement of the spinal cord, so that the spinal cord was shocked, may cause spinal cord injury. The most common is falling from a high place, fall injury; followed by traffic accidents, direct impact; the third type is smashed, for example: caused by the collapse of coal mines, house collapse. In addition to traumatic spinal cord injuries, there are a large number of non-traumatic spinal cord injuries that are on the rise, such as: myelitis, spinal cord tumors, spinal cord vascular disease, lateral sclerosis, and so on. Of the two causes of spinal cord injuries, traumatic ones occur more often, but both are on the rise. According to a recent statistic in Beijing, in the 80’s, the rate of spinal cord injury caused by trauma was 6.8 per million, and now it is 60 per million, which is an increase of many times. 3.How to deal with spinal cord injury at the scene of first aid? If there is a wound, it should be bandaged urgently, and should not easily turn the casualty, there is a cerebrospinal fluid leakage to thicken the bandage. For those who have difficulty in breathing and are unconscious, it is necessary to clean up the oral secretion in time and keep the airway open. First aid handling process, must pay attention to keep the injured head, neck and torso of the straight position, must not make the spine flexion and twisting. Especially the cervical spine injury, should be more careful handling, and be fixed. Do not lift the head, trunk or sit up. A flat stretcher or porta-potty is preferred for lifting. Antibiotics should be used appropriately when there is a wound or potential for infection. Also, prevent and treat injuries to other parts of the body to prevent urinary tract infections and respiratory complications. High paraplegic, if necessary, should be early tracheotomy; on the way to a longer period of time to carry, should be removed from the casualty’s clothing bag of hard objects, etc., in order to prevent compression of bedsores. After emergency treatment, should be immediately sent to the hospital for treatment. 4.What is the main function of normal spinal cord? The spinal cord is a link between the brain and the peripheral nerves, the brain’s commands are transmitted to the peripheral nerves through the spinal cord, thus accomplishing the body’s motor, sensory and bowel control functions. 5. What happens after spinal cord injury? After spinal cord injury, the ability of the spinal cord to transmit motor and sensory commands from the brain is reduced or even lost, resulting in sensory and motor deficits, abnormal reflexes, and incontinence or retention of bowel movements below the injury level, and other corresponding pathological changes, which are often referred to as “quadriplegia” (referring to cervical spinal cord injury) and “paraplegia” (referring to thoracic spinal cord injury). This is often called “quadriplegia” (referring to cervical spinal cord injury) and “paraplegia” (referring to thoracic and lumbar spinal cord injury). 6.What is incomplete spinal cord injury and what is complete spinal cord injury? Incomplete injury: If it is found that some sensory and motor functions are preserved in the sacral segment below the plane of injured nerves including the lowest position, this kind of injury is incomplete damage, and sacral sensation includes sensation of anal mucous membrane skin junction and deep anus. Motor function is examined by anal examination with a finger to determine if there is active contraction of the external anal sphincter. Complete injury: refers to the complete loss of sensation and motor function of the sacral segment. 7.From the perspective of morbidity, what is the age distribution of spinal cord injury patients in China? Traumatic spinal cord injury probably has the most average age around 30 years old. There are two groups of people who suffer from traumatic spinal cord injury, one is young adults who are engaged in sports, and the other is the 50-60 year olds who suffer from spinal cord injury due to a fall. Therefore, the age span of spinal cord injury jumps from young adults to the elderly, relatively few middle-aged, children are less. 8. What is the incidence of spinal cord injury? The incidence of traumatic spinal cord injury is about 60 per million. The total adds up to 6 to 20 per 100,000 reported in the literature. There are about 70,000 to 80,000 new spinal cord injuries in China every year. Together with the average life expectancy of about thirty years after injury, the cumulative number of spinal cord injury patients is a considerable number. 9.Why is it necessary to place special emphasis on rehabilitation for spinal cord injury patients? Because after spinal cord injury, the early problem is spinal instability, and a considerable number of patients may need surgery to solve this problem. Once the spinal column is stabilized, due to the fact that we now have fewer chances to promote the regeneration of spinal cord nerves, there will be primary dysfunctions, such as paralysis, and secondary dysfunctions, such as stones in the renal system, pressure ulcers, joint dysfunctions, sexual dysfunctions, and reproductive problems, fertility problems, etc. All these cannot be solved simply by medication or surgery, but must be improved, compensated and replaced through certain rehabilitation training, so that spinal cord injury patients can restore their self-care ability and improve the quality of life as much as possible, which is very important. 10. What is the purpose of rehabilitation for spinal cord injury? Rehabilitation can largely prevent or reduce a series of serious complications caused by spinal cord injury, such as lung infections, urinary tract infections, pressure sores, joint stiffness and contractures, postural hypotension, deep vein thrombosis, mental depression, and so on. And through the assembly and use of auxiliary facilities, patients can maximize the recovery of daily life activities and the ability to work, study and recreation. 11.When does the rehabilitation treatment of spinal cord injury usually start? The earlier the rehabilitation treatment, the better, once the clinical situation is stabilized, for example, after spinal surgery, not in the process of resuscitation, it can be started, the early rehabilitation process is not to take very complex measures or strenuous exercise, can prevent some comorbidities from occurring, so the earlier the better.