Complete vs. Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury (Nursing)

00:01 Now, spinal cord injuries can be complete or they can be incomplete.

00:06 If we're talking about a complete spinal cord injury, there's a total loss of feeling and motion below the injury site.

00:14 So remember we looked at those pictures where someone had a complete spinal cord injury.

00:18 They have completely lost any feeling, sensation, temperature, pain, etc. below the site, but they've also lost motion.

00:27 An incomplete spinal cord injury is the one that's really different and unique in each patient.

00:34 There could be some sensation, there might be some motion, it's not gonna be normal function, but it's not gonna be as complete as a severed spinal cord injury.

00:43 So, let's talk about some examples.

00:46 Now, there's anterior cord syndrome.

00:48 You've already got something to link that to, right? You know. Go back and look at - we showed you the diagram of the spinal cord.

00:55 What type? Sensory or motor is located in the anterior section? Now central cord syndrome is gonna be right in the middle.

01:05 Posterior cord syndrome is going to be what we would call the back or the posterior portion.

01:10 Brown-Sequard syndrome, that one is really interesting.

01:14 And then we'll talk about cauda equina syndrome.

01:16 Okay. So these are five examples of spinal cord injury syndromes and we're gonna walk through each one of these in a little more detail.

01:27 So an acute spinal cord injury, if it's an incomplete injury that's an example of like bruising or tearing of the spinal cord.

01:36 Bruising of the spinal cord is actually more common than tearing, and you're more likely to see the bruising.

01:42 Now a patient might have no motor ability or sensation ability below the injury, might have paraplegia or quadriplegia which we refer to also as tetraplegia.

01:53 But an incomplete spinal cord injury is more common than complete.

01:58 And remember, it might be from - bruising is the most likely the common cause or it might be from tearing.

02:04 Okay. Remember we talked about those five types of spinal cord injuries.

02:08 Well, we classify them according to what part of the cord is damaged.

02:13 For example; anterior, posterior and central cord syndromes, they refer to injuries that are in the front, back and center of the normal spinal cord.

02:23 So if it's anterior, it's in the front. If it's posterior, it's in the back.

02:27 And if it's central, it's in the middle.

02:30 Now, the Brown-Sequard syndrome, this injury might be to the left or right side but you have both paralysis and loss of motion so it's a really unusual one.

02:40 Now cauda equina, that's a lesion that you have, maybe injury to the nerves between the first and second lumbar region, really, really low.

02:48 So an incomplete spinal cord injury often caused by bruising, sometimes with tearing, we classify it by the location of the injury: front, back, middle or the Brown-Sequard.

02:59 Which is really not very common but if you get to see it, it's fascinating.

03:04 And finally the cauda equina lesion.