Post by flikkflakk on Oct 17, 2019 3:53:06 GMT -8
Those with injury in cauda equina (below T12) loses bladder and anal reflexes, and do not have muscle spasms. But how is it that patients with higher spinal cord injuries (over T12) have preserved reflexes in e.g. the bowel? When a patient has a higher spinal cord injury, the brain cannot communicate with the cauda equina either?
A patient with SCI in the cervical region could use digital stimulation of the rectum to initiate a bowel motion. But a patient with an injury below T12, does not have these reflexes and the bowel is often flaccid. It seems logical to think that a patient with a C5 injury will have even less contact with the sacral segments (which control the bowel), than a patient with injury in L2.
Is it something that happens with the reflexes when the cauda equina is damaged, as opposed to injuries higher up in the spinal cord? How do patients with higher SCI have reflexes when their brains cannot communicate with the body below their injury level? And why don't those with cauda equina have the same types of spasms, when injury to cauda equina also can cause paralysis?
