When you think of spinal injuries and paralysis, you may imagine someone who can’t walk or feel their body. The truth is that catastrophic injuries to the spinal column and spinal cord can have a varied outcome. For some, partial paralysis, also called incomplete paralysis, is the result after a car crash or other serious accident.
With an incomplete spinal injury, it’s not easy to know what a person can or cannot do based on the diagnosis alone. The individual doesn’t have total paralysis or the full loss of sensation, but it does mean that those sensations and movements are limited in some way.
How serious are incomplete injuries to the spine?
Some are so mild that there is almost no sign that they happened. A person might have a small amount of weakness, for example. On the other hand, severe incomplete injuries can be similar to full paralysis except for having some areas where they still have sensation or slight movement. Usually, people with incomplete injuries are somewhere in the middle, losing some abilities and sensations.
After an incomplete injury, there is some hope of recovering at least some of your feeling and movement. If you didn’t suffer full paralysis, then your chances of recovery are higher than someone who did. Did you know that around two-thirds of people who had neck injuries but could feel a pinprick on their legs eventually regained the ability to walk? Those who feel light touch may also fully recover in around 1 in 8 cases.
If you’ve suffered a spinal injury, you need to get immediate and thorough medical treatment. Your attorney can help you seek compensation from those at fault so that you can get the treatment you need.
