00:01
Now the second criteria was the levels of injury.
00:04
So let's talk about the skeletal level of injury.
00:06
That's the vertebra that has the most damage to the bones and ligaments.
00:11
So the skeletal level of injury will be the vertebra that has the most damage to the bones and ligaments.
00:18
Now, the neurologic level of injury is another level that we look at.
00:22
That's the lowest segment of the spinal cord with normal sensory and motor function on both sides of the body.
00:30
So we've got the skeletal level and the neurological level.
00:34
Now tetraplegia was formerly known as quadriplegia, but you'll hear many people speaking it as tetraplegia now.
00:42
It's paralysis of all four extremities.
00:46
If you look at the graphic that's why he is green from the neck down, that represents paralysis.
00:53
Now, these are from cervical spinal cord injuries, remember those are the vertebra that -
they're very at the top of your spinal cord.
00:59
So the degree of arm impairment depends on the level of the actual cervical injury.
01:04
So, C4 would likely have relatively less impairment than C3 or higher.
01:11
And all is individual, depends on that patient.
01:14
But just as a general rule, if I had a C4 injury,
would likely have a little bit less impairment than someone who had C3 which is higher and would be worse.
01:25
Paraplegia response - paralysis and loss of sensation in the legs.
01:32
So you got it from right across the middle.
01:34
The hands may not work very well, also the legs will be paralyzed.
01:38
Thoracic, lumbar or sacral spinal cord injuries can end in paraplegia.
01:43
Now, how much or how significant the impairment is depends on the actual specific level of the injury.
01:50
T6 paraplegia is paralysis below the chest. L1 paraplegia is paralysis below the waist.
01:58
So I've got an example for you there.
02:00
Looking at the graphic, which level of paraplegia is this? Is it T6 or L1?
Right, it's L1. It's paralysis below the waist.