What does high paraplegia mean and what are the symptoms?

The so-called high paraplegia refers to paraplegia that occurs above the second thoracic vertebra. Patients suffering from this disease will experience sensory disorders, bedsores, limb paralysis, muscle atrophy, etc. Severely ill patients may even suffer from urinary and fecal incontinence.

What does high paraplegia mean?

High paraplegia refers to a transverse lesion occurring at a higher level of the spinal cord. In medicine, paraplegia caused by transverse spinal cord lesions above the second thoracic vertebra is generally called high paraplegia, and paraplegia caused by spinal cord injury below the third thoracic vertebra is called lower body paraplegia.

symptom

1. Sensory impairment: After spinal cord injury, the nerve bundles in the white matter will be damaged, resulting in loss of skin sensations such as touch, pressure, pain and temperature.

2. Fecal and fecal incontinence: In paraplegic patients, the spinal urination center is damaged, the urge to urinate cannot be transmitted, and the brain's control information on urination cannot be sent out. As a result, the patient does not feel the urge to urinate and urinates at any time and place.

3. Bedsores: Also known as pressure ulcers, they are extremely difficult to treat complications of paraplegic patients who stay in bed for a long time or sit for a long time without changing their body position. In the early stage, redness, swelling or blisters can be seen on the local skin, which later turn purple and begin to break out. If not treated in time, the disease may even spread deep into the bones.

4. Disuse muscle atrophy: Paraplegic patients are bedridden for a long time, and their muscles rarely move, which significantly reduces the nutrition and oxygen supply to the muscles. Over time, muscle strength decreases, muscle volume shrinks, and muscle atrophy occurs. At the same time, due to lack of nutrition, it may be accompanied by a series of pathological symptoms such as dry skin and desquamation.

5. Limb paralysis: The greatest pain for paraplegic patients is limb paralysis, which makes their daily life very inconvenient. The degree of paralysis is mainly determined by muscle strength, which can be divided into levels 0 to 5. Grade 0: Complete paralysis, the patient's limbs cannot move at all; Grade I: Only slight muscle contraction is seen, but the joints and limbs cannot be moved; Grade II: The limbs can move on the bed but cannot be lifted off the bed; Grade III: The limbs can be lifted off the bed but cannot overcome external negative forces; Grade IV: The patient can resist the resistance given to the limbs by the examiner and actively move; Grade V: Normal muscle strength. Generally speaking, the higher the muscle strength, the milder the limb paralysis, and the lower the muscle strength, the more severe the limb paralysis.