By Marian M. Inguanzo, MSW, ACSW
and
Mitchell A. Kaplan PhD, CPSP
Each year as many as 10 to 12 thousand
Americans are involved in motor vehicle
accidents, slip and fall traumas or violent
criminal acts such as a shooting incident that
can potentially result in severe life changing
physical injuries to the spinal cord. The
American Spinal Cord Injury Association defines
spinal cord injury as any traumatic damage to
the spine that results in loss of sensory or
motor function in the upper or lower extremities
of the human body. Depending upon the site and
severity of the damage, a traumatic injury to
the spinal cord can leave an individual with
varying degrees of physical disability that can
have a profound impact on an individual’s
overall quality of life and sense of well-being.
Findings from a number of federally funded
epidemiological studies indicate that spinal
cord injury is one of the most prevalent
neurological disabilities in the nation.
According to scientific data from the National
Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center and the
United States Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), there are between 200 and 250
thousand Americans of all ages living with a
mobility impairment resulting from a spinal cord
injury in the United States today.
Epidemiological data from the CDC further
indicates there are between 200 and 250 thousand
Americans of all ages living with a mobility
impairment resulting from a spinal cord injury in
the United States today. Epidemiological data from
the CDC further indicates that over half the
patients that sustain a spinal cord in our country
are male adolescents and young adults between the
ages of 15 and 29 years old. A large percentage of
these men reside in low income impoverished urban
areas which have mainly African American and other
minority populations. CDC data indicates that
violent crime rates and drug and alcohol related
motor vehicle accidents usually run higher than
average in these neighborhoods; this significantly
increases the risk of an individual sustaining a
serious physical injury that can lead to spinal cord
damage and its accompanying disabilities. Spinal
cord injuries exact a serious social and economic
burden on both individual and society. Data from CDC
funded studies reveals that the United States
government currently spends an estimated 4 billion
dollars each year on the medical care and disability
management of persons with spinal cord injury. Most
of the money that pays for the financial cost of the
medical care and other services these individuals
require to survive comes from the American taxpayers
which places a tremendous social and economic
responsibility on patients, their families and
society as a whole. (CDC unpublished data.)
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