Spinal cord injury: How to help sufferers, self

Mathew’s life took a dramatic turn when he was involved in a car crash while on an official trip. Although he did not sustain a single scratch or bruise, he suffered a spinal cord injury and has been bedridden for over a year now. is not a patient to be managed in a district or general hospital or small hospitals .”

Dr. Okor advised health personnel to quickly transfer such patients to places with the capacity to manage the complex situation.

The multi-disciplinary approach and team of experts include neurosurgeons, brain surgeons, spine surgeons, physiotherapists, operational therapists, social workers, clinical psychologists, intensive care unit specialists, nurses, among others.

Asked the chances of recovery from spinal cord injury, Dr. Olumide Alao of Zitadel Medicals said it all depended on the degree and quality of treatment the patient got from the time the incident happened and the hospital care and post hospital care.

He said assistive aids, specialised equipment and motorised wheelchairs could help the patient regain function or lead a normal life with any disability.

A physiotherapist, Mbamalu Chibuike Chizoba, a stressed that post hospital care was very important in the management of spinal cord injury, but that Nigeria did not have a single rehabilitation home where patients could access quality long term intensive physical rehabilitation like in other countries.

He said the life of a person with spinal cord injury was completely dependent on the people around him or her and therefore advised families, employers and friends of patients suffering from the condition to make sacrifices and give them maximum support, saying it would enable them live a quality life.