How Does A Spinal Cord Injury Affect The Brain?

November 20, 2024 | Spinal Cord Injuries

The spinal cord is one of the most important communication tools in your body. It enables messages to move from every organ and nerve located throughout your body to your brain.

When a spinal cord injury occurs, the devastation can be incredible, leading to a breakdown in that communication pathway. This can have numerous implications on your brain’s function. Speak with an Austin spinal cord injury lawyer today about your case.

Spinal Cord Injuries and Brain Function

Spinal cord injuries impact every component of the brain’s function, depending on where they occur and the severity of them. Some of the specific impacts of spinal cord injury on your brain’s function include the following, as noted by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke:

• Cognitive function limitations, where thinking and communicating cannot happen properly
• Bodily function failures
• Movement and sensation of every portion of the body below the spinal cord injury
• Pain development and ongoing suffering from it
• Changes to memory and problem-solving skills due to neurological damage
• Emotional challenges include difficulty expressing how you feel and changing how you think, respond to the environment, and manage stress

Physical and emotional damage are very common. The severity of the damage to the spinal cord can determine if:

• The injuries are substantial or mild, creating a significant impairment or limited damage
• The injuries are short-term or permanent, based on whether or not the damage can heal and function can return
• What specific types of losses do you face based on the location and extensiveness of the damage

Whether it is an inability to sense and respond to temperature or mobility loss, all spinal cord injuries are complex. Seeking out specialized, immediate care may be critical to restoring proper function or mitigating at least some of the risks.

Consider the Impact a Spinal Cord Injury Can Have on Your Life

If someone else caused your spinal cord injury, such as after a car accident or a slip and fall incident, they could be responsible for all losses you suffer as a result. Spinal cord injuries can carry far more than just financial loss, though, and you may be owed compensation for all of those losses. Examples of how spinal cord injuries impact the lives of many include:

• Changes to your ability to communicate impact your ability to express yourself
• Inability to work or maintain a job at all, or the need for retraining if you can no longer do the work you used to do
• Difficulty with problem-solving and often the development of complexities from behavior and mental health impairment
• Changes in relationships and your ability to maintain them over the long term
• Limitation on the length of your life, especially if you lose mobility permanently or other organ- and tissue-related injuries occur

Your relationships, your quality of life, your ability to care for yourself, and many other factors could be negatively impacted by your spinal cord injury. As a direct result of this, those at fault for your accident should provide you with compensation for the losses you have incurred.

The complexity of these injuries and their long-lasting impact makes it critical for victims to seek out legal guidance in pursuing fair compensation. Your life may never be the same, and your need for fair compensation to meet your future needs is high. Contact an Austin personal injury attorney who can navigate who is at fault and ensure they pay for your losses.