Motorcycle Wrecks and Complete Spinal Cord Injuries

After your motorcycle accident, you were rushed to the hospital with serious injuries. Upon regaining consciousness, the doctors learned that you had no feeling from the waist down. Your spinal cord is damaged.

Unfortunately, this isn’t uncommon. Motorcycles have become an increasingly popular form of transportation in the United States over the last decade or so, and that’s led to an increase in both fatalities and major spinal cord injuries from wrecks. Because motorcycles lack a protective cage or shell around their riders, there’s nothing between them and the pavement when a crash does happen – and the human spinal cord can be very fragile.

A Total Loss of Sensation Indicates That You Have the Most Severe Form of Injury

Spinal cord damage can be divided into either “incomplete” injuries or “complete” injuries. Since you have no feeling from the waist down, you likely have a complete spinal cord injury – which means that you’ve lost all motor control below the point of damage. 

Since just your legs, pelvic organs and the lower trunk of your body are affected, this is referred to as paraplegia. The long-term consequences of your injuries are likely to include:

• A permanent inability to move your feet and legs
• The loss of both bowel and bladder control
• Changes in your sexual function
• Problems with nerve pain in some of the affected areas
• Increased difficulty fighting off infections
• A risk of blood clots in your legs and other complications

Only time will tell exactly what complications you may face, but you’re definitely in for a long recovery period – and you will likely never regain what you have lost. Your focus will probably be on improving your condition as much as possible and adapting to your new physical reality so that you can maintain the best possible life moving forward.

Naturally, none of the medical care or adaptive equipment you may need is cheap – and insurance only covers so much. If your wreck was caused by another driver’s negligence, the best way to protect your interests is to pursue a claim for the maximum possible compensation.