Differences in how spinal cord is affected by illness or injury
JHarper33(AT)aol.com
Fri, 4 Sep 1998 09:33:39 EDT
Did anyone see the program "48 Hours" last night on spinal cord injuries? I
thought it was very encouraging. I have been pondering, though, the difference
between someone whose spinal cord was affected by illness, such as TM or MS,
and injury, like a broken neck, and wondering if research for one will help
the other. I was thinking they were two completely different things, but are
they? I'm revealing my ignorance of biology here, but when someone breaks a
vertabrae, they are just breaking bone, right? And how it affects the nervous
system depends on whether or how the nerves from the spinal cord were injured
or traumatized? If someone actually severed the spinal cord itself, wouldn't
they die? I just had to look up the difference between spinal cord and spinal
column -- the column is the vertebrae, the bones, and the spinal cord is a
part if the central nervous system within the spinal column. So, I guess what
I am trying to get to in my non-succinct way (for which I apologize) is that I
thought research would have to take two different tracks, one for spinal cord
related illnesses, and one for spinal cord related injuries. But is that the
case? Does it really boil down to the same problem for both cases? Even if the
research does have to take two different tracks, I think the information from
both tracks will help each other, but I got to thinking maybe it is just ONE
problem after all with different causes rather than two completely different
problems.
Barbara H.