Spinal Cord Injuries in Boston, MA
Boston, Massachusetts lawyers who know spinal cord injuries
Spinal injuries dramatically impact the lives of victims and their families. Often, these injuries leave victims permanently disabled, or in need of months, years, and, in some instances, a lifetime of rehabilitation, therapy, and care. For a lot of people, the spinal injury affects their ability to earn a living.
Baker & Abraham, P.C. has a proven record of success in spinal cord injury cases. We help clients obtain the compensation that is imperative to guaranteeing their lifelong care. Our experience includes all types of spinal injuries:
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Spinal cord injury (SCI) is the loss of function, mobility, and feeling due to damage to the spinal cord. The spinal cord extends from the base of the brain, down the middle of the back, to about the waist.
Upper motor neurons (UMNs) lie within the spinal cord and carry messages between the brain and spinal nerves along the spinal tract.
Lower motor neurons (LMNs) branch out from the spinal cord to other parts of the body. They exit and enter at each vertebral level and communicate with specific areas of the body. The sensory portions of the LMN carry messages about sensation from the skin and other body parts and organs to the brain. The motor portions of the LMN send messages from the brain to the various body parts to initiate actions such as muscle movement.
Anatomy of a spinal cord injury
Spinal cord injury is commonly caused by trauma such as car accidents, construction site accidents, falls, gunshots, and more.
In general, the higher in the spinal column the injury occurs, the more dysfunction a person will experience.
An injury to the cervical vertebrae, the seven vertebrae in the neck, usually causes loss of function in the arms and legs, resulting in quadriplegia. An injury to the thoracic vertebrae, the 12 vertebrae in the chest, can affect the chest and the legs and result in paraplegia. Injury to the lumbar vertebrae, in the lower back, generally results in some loss of functioning in the hips and legs.
A complete injury means that there is no function below the level of the injury: no sensation and no voluntary movement; both sides of the body are equally affected.
An incomplete injury means that there is some functioning below the primary level of the injury. A person with an incomplete injury may be able to move one limb more than another, may be able to feel parts of the body that cannot be moved, or may have more functioning on one side of the body than the other.
Disc herniation, a rupture of an intervertebral disc—the cushion between the bony blocks of vertebrae—may cause the contents of the disc to impact or “impinge” on nerves in the spinal column, resulting in pain and discomfort. When a disc ruptures in the cervical region, patients often experience pain, numbness, or tingling in their arms, hands, and fingers. Often, the spine will bend out of its normal curvature (loss of cervical lordosis), causing significant muscle spasms and associated neck pain.
Likewise, when a disc herniates in the lumbar region, patients usually experience numbness and tingling through their buttocks and into their legs. Serious lumbar herniations may also cause significant back pain and incontinence, and can affect the patient’s ability to sit or stand for extended periods of time.
If you suffer from a spinal cord injury because of someone else’s negligence, you owe it to yourself to talk to experienced spine injury attorneys about all of your options.
See our frequently asked questions about spinal cord injuries
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We change our clients’ lives
To see the difference two exceptional injury attorneys can make in your case, contact Baker & Abraham in Boston for a free initial consultation. If we take your case, you will pay nothing unless we recover compensation for you.
Serving all of Massachusetts, including—
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