Spinal Cord Injury Care
Suffering a spinal cord injury can be life changing and distressing for both the client and their family. The future may seem unstable and frightening for everyone involved, which is why there are a variety of support options available to help you navigate this new road.
The team at Four Oaks Healthcare work closely with our clients to truly understand the level of care required, and then work with the client and their family to develop an individual care plan
If the spinal cord injury concerned is new, it can feel like every aspect of yours or your loved one’s life has just been dramatically affected, which can be hard to cope with emotionally, mentally, and socially; without the added new physical challenges you are facing.
It may be that you have been living with the aftermath of a spinal cord injury and didn’t realise how difficult things would be. You don’t have to go through this alone, there is support available to you.
Here are some of the most common questions we are asked about spinal cord injuries. If you have a question that we have not answered here, then please get in touch so we can offer help and advice.
What Is A Spinal Cord Injury?
A spinal cord injury is when the spinal cord and nerves are damaged, either permanently or temporarily, limiting the normal motor or sensory functions. This is usually caused by serious injury, such as a significant fall or a car accident, or from ongoing debilitating diseases such as spina bifida, transverse myelitis, or polio.
Types Of Spinal Cord Injury
The type and severity of injury to your spine can depend on which section of your spine was injured. There are different types of spinal cord injury:
Cervical Spinal Cord Injury This will impact your head and neck.
Lumbar Spinal Cord Injury This type of injury will affect your hips and legs.
Thoracic Spinal Cord Injury This will impact your upper chest, mid-back and abdominal muscles.
Sacral Spinal Cord Injury This type of injury will affect your hips, the back of your thighs, buttocks and pelvic organs.
Complete Spinal Cord Injury This refers to the loss of all sensory and motor functions below the point of injury.
Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury This refers to having some motor and sensory feeling affected by the injury to varying degrees.
The type of spinal cord injury you suffer may impact the type of care we recommend. All of our care plans and packages are fully tailored to your individual situation
What Does Rehabilitation After A Spinal Cord Injury Look Like?
That is a tough question to answer because it depends on the type of injury and the severity. However, any complex care nurse assigned to assist you throughout your rehabilitation should be highly trained, fully qualified, and experienced in caring for people with your type of spinal cord injury
With that in mind, here are some examples of different rehabilitation techniques your doctor may recommend: Physical therapy, Use of adaptive or assistive devices, Occupational therapy & Education and training on coping strategies and techniques
As part of our rehabilitation programme your live in carer or daily carer will continuously work on regaining sensory or motor control and can perform methodical tests to determine any neurological improvement.
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What Are Spinal Cord Injury Symptoms?
Symptoms of a spinal cord injury can vary significantly between each individual client depending on where the spinal cord has been damaged and how badly.
Motor and sensory functions affected can depend on where the damage to the spinal cord took place and the severity.
Symptoms of a spinal cord injury can result in one of more of the following:
Loss of, or altered movement
Loss of, or altered sensation
Inability to feel heat, cold and touch
Difficulty breathing or coughing
Loss of bowel or bladder control
Pain or stinging caused by damaged nerve fibres in the spinal cord
Changes in sexual function or infertility
Why Choose Four Oaks Healthcare For Your Spinal Cord Injury Care?
Our personal care assistants can provide care designed to the specific needs of our client, from rehabilitation help to 24-hour live-in care. This service is offered in Birmingham and all around the UK.
Our specialist staff are highly trained in supporting the clients and their families emotionally through this time, and can ease the transition into rehabilitation, with the ultimate goal always to have the client living as independently in their own home as possible.
Our clinical nurse specialists will continually monitor the healthcare provided by our live-in or day care staff to ensure you our your loved ones are receiving appropriate treatment. Your clinical nurse specialists will also be an expert in spinal cord injury rehabilitation, to enable us to provide a specially tailored care plan to support you from the comfort of your own home.
We also assess every client’s social as well as clinical requirements to enable us to develop a complex care plan that suits their lifestyle and to help us find a carer that has similar interests to help build a strong relationship.
Finally, our complex care providers undergo continuous ongoing training and assessments so that you can be sure your loved one is in the best possible hands.