Quadriplegia - Causes

Causes

It is caused by damage to the brain or the spinal cord at a high level C1–C7—in particular, spinal cord injuries secondary to an injury to the cervical spine. The injury, which is known as a lesion, causes victims to lose partial or total function of all four limbs, meaning the arms and the legs. Tetraplegia is defined in many ways; C1–C4 usually affects arm movement more so than a C5–C7 injury; however, all tetraplegics have or have had some kind of finger dysfunction. So, it is not uncommon to have a tetraplegic with fully functional arms but no nervous control of their fingers and thumbs.

Typical causes of this damage are trauma (such as a traffic collision, diving into shallow water, a fall, a sports injury), disease (such as transverse myelitis or polio) or congenital disorders, such as muscular dystrophy or multiple sclerosis.

It is possible to suffer a broken neck without becoming tetraplegic, such as when the vertebrae are fractured or dislocated but the spinal cord is not damaged. Conversely, it is possible to injure the spinal cord without breaking the spine, such as when a ruptured disc or bony spur on the vertebra protrudes into the spinal column.