ABSTRACT
An estimated 400,000 people in the U.S. have permanent paralysis as a consequence of spinal cord injury and an additional 10,000 are injured each year. Patients with spinal cord injuries (SCI) can live 25 to 30 years after their initial injuries. Each patient must cope with a lifetime of neurological dysfunction including paralysis, bowel and bladder dysfunction, sexual dysfunction, spasticity, deafferentation pain, loss of skin integrity, and autonomic dysfunction.1 Thus, SCI can be a devastating neurological disorder in terms of the years of disability caused and the associated physical and psychological complications. However, patients can remain highly functional with the use of modern aids, such as wheelchairs; they can participate fully in work, sports, and activities of daily living despite the obvious disability associated with the loss of function.
