5 Things to Know about Spinal Cord Injuries

Every year, millions of people are involved in some type of accident. This often results in critical bodily injuries that could have a long-term effect on the injured, and on their families.  Spinal cord injuries can change your life and cause a disability or become debilitating over time. 

Common Causes of Spinal Cord Injuries

Many types of accidents can cause a spinal cord injury. Here are some examples of just a few of them:

• Car, truck and motorcycle accidents, bicycle and pedestrian accidents.
• Slip-and-falls, trip-and-falls or falls from heights.
• Diving accidents.
• Sports injuries.
• Birth injuries.

Symptoms of Spinal Cord Injuries

Where an injury is located on a victim’s spinal cord largely determines what parts of his or her body are affected and the extent of that person’s symptoms. In the experience of our Seattle spinal cord injury lawyers, the higher the level on the spinal cord that the injury is located, the more severe the symptoms will be. If the injury involves a tear of the cord, whether partial or full, paraplegia may result.

Here are five symptoms of a spinal cord tear:

• Muscle weakness or partial or complete loss of muscle movement in the extremities.
• Difficulty breathing.
• Loss of sensation in the arms, hands, legs and feet.
• Loss of function of the bowel and bladder.
• Involuntary muscle spasms.

Five things to know about having a spinal cord injury:

1. You will need to learn a new way of performing your daily routines and activities.

2.  Modifications to living areas and workspace may be needed in order to live comfortably.

3.  New health concerns that could affect one or more areas of the body could be a medical expense that could last for years.

4.  A spinal cord injury could mean more open-ended and unexpected expenses and challenges.

5.  Skilled and knowledgeable Seattle spinal cord injury attorneys can help you obtain the compensation you need to help you and your family meet the challenges and expenses that accompany a spinal cord injury.

Any spinal cord tear is going to be physically, emotionally and financially debilitating, especially if it was caused by the carelessness and negligence of somebody else. Your quality of life can be permanently affected due to a severe spinal cord injury.  If your accident and spinal cord injury happened anywhere in or around Seattle, contact the Seattle spinal cord injury law firm at Albert Law PLLC for a free consultation and case review. We can talk about what happened and how it has affected you and your family.